Browsing by Author "Benstead, Jonathan P."

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Interactions between temperature and nutrients across levels of ecological organization
(2015-03) Cross, Wyatt F.; Hood, James M.; Benstead, Jonathan P.; Huryn, Alexander D.; Nelson, Daniel
Temperature and nutrient availability play key roles in controlling the pathways and rates at which energy and materials move through ecosystems. These factors have also changed dramatically on Earth over the past century as human activities have intensified. Although significant effort has been devoted to understanding the role of temperature and nutrients in isolation, less is known about how these two factors interact to influence ecological processes. Recent advances in ecological stoichiometry and metabolic ecology provide a useful framework for making progress in this area, but conceptual synthesis and review are needed to help catalyze additional research. Here, we examine known and potential interactions between temperature and nutrients from a variety of physiological, community, and ecosystem perspectives. We first review patterns at the level of the individual, focusing on four traits â€“ growth, respiration, body size, and elemental content â€“ that should theoretically govern how temperature and nutrients interact to influence higher levels of biological organization. We next explore the interactive effects of temperature and nutrients on populations, communities, and food webs by synthesizing information related to community size spectra, biomass distributions, and elemental composition. We use metabolic theory to make predictions about how population-level secondary production should respond to interactions between temperature and resource supply, setting up qualitative predictions about the flows of energy and materials through metazoan food webs. Last, we examine how temperatureâ€“nutrient interactions influence processes at the whole-ecosystem level, focusing on apparent vs. intrinsic activation energies of ecosystem processes, how to represent temperatureâ€“nutrient interactions in ecosystem models, and patterns with respect to nutrient uptake and organic matter decomposition. We conclude that a better understanding of interactions between temperature and nutrients will be critical for developing realistic predictions about ecological responses to multiple, simultaneous drivers of global change, including climate warming and elevated nutrient supply.
Nutrient enrichment intensifies the effects of warming on metabolic balance of stream ecosystems
(Wiley, 2022-02) Cross, Wyatt F.; Hood, James M.; Benstead, Jonathan P.; Huryn, Alexander D.; Welter, Jill R.; Gíslason, Gísli M.; Ólafsson, Jón S.
Climate warming and eutrophication are leading drivers of environmental change, and both are likely to alter the role of freshwaters in the global carbon cycle. Recent studies demonstrate that warming of streams can increase freshwater contributions of CO2 to the atmosphere, yet little is known about how such contributions are modulated by the identity or supply of limiting nutrients. We quantified responses of ecosystem metabolism and metabolic balance to whole-stream enrichments of either nitrogen or phosphorus across a 5°C range of ambient temperature. We show that nutrient enrichment drove large reductions in net ecosystem production, and interactions with temperature amplified these effects in warm N-enriched streams. Partitioning of autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration revealed that these responses were driven by increased respiration of microbial heterotrophs. Our study provides direct experimental evidence that warming-induced increases in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are likely intensified in stream ecosystems subject to eutrophication.
Resource Supply Governs the Apparent Temperature Dependence of Animal Production in Stream Ecosystems
(2020-10) Junker, James R.; Cross, Wyatt F.; Benstead, Jonathan P.; Huryn, Alexander D.; Hood, James M.; Nelson, Daniel; Gislason, Gisli M.; Olafsson, Jon S.
Rising global temperatures are changing how energy and materials move through ecosystems, with potential consequences for the role of animals in these processes. We tested a central prediction of the metabolic scaling framework—the temperature independence of animal community production—using a series of geothermally heated streams and a comprehensive empirical analysis. We show that the apparent temperature sensitivity of animal production was consistent with theory for individuals (Epind = 0.64 vs. 0.65 eV), but strongly amplified relative to theoretical expectations for communities, both among (Epamong = 0.67 vs. 0 eV) and within (Epwithin = 1.52 vs. 0 eV) streams. After accounting for spatial and temporal variation in resources, we show that the apparent positive effect of temperature was driven by resource supply, providing strong empirical support for the temperature independence of invertebrate production and the necessary inclusion of resources in metabolic scaling efforts.