Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/ele.12923
Document Shareable Link
Title (Primary) When things don’t add up: quantifying impacts of multiple stressors from individual metabolism to ecosystem processing
Author Galic, N.; Sullivan, L.L.; Grimm, V.; Forbes, V.E.
Source Titel Ecology Letters
Year 2018
Department OESA; iDiv
Volume 21
Issue 4
Page From 568
Page To 577
Language englisch
Supplements https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fele.12923&attachmentId=2197305387
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fele.12923&attachmentId=2197305388
Keywords Antagonism; detritivores; ecosystem services; energy budgets; individual-based model; population dynamics; stressor interactions; synergism
UFZ wide themes RU5;
Abstract Ecosystems are exposed to multiple stressors which can compromise functioning and service delivery. These stressors often co-occur and interact in different ways which are not yet fully understood. Here, we applied a population model representing a freshwater amphipod feeding on leaf litter in forested streams. We simulated impacts of hypothetical stressors, individually and in pairwise combinations that target the individuals’ feeding, maintenance, growth and reproduction. Impacts were quantified by examining responses at three levels of biological organisation: individual-level body sizes and cumulative reproduction, population-level abundance and biomass and ecosystem-level leaf litter decomposition. Interactive effects of multiple stressors at the individual level were mostly antagonistic, that is, less negative than expected. Most population- and ecosystem-level responses to multiple stressors were stronger than expected from an additive model, that is, synergistic. Our results suggest that across levels of biological organisation responses to multiple stressors are rarely only additive. We suggest methods for efficiently quantifying impacts of multiple stressors at different levels of biological organisation.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=19935
Galic, N., Sullivan, L.L., Grimm, V., Forbes, V.E. (2018):
When things don’t add up: quantifying impacts of multiple stressors from individual metabolism to ecosystem processing
Ecol. Lett. 21 (4), 568 - 577 10.1111/ele.12923