Unpacking brown food-webs: Animal trophic identity reflects rampant microbivory

Ecology and Evolution
Shawn A SteffanNaohiko Ohkouchi

Abstract

Detritivory is the dominant trophic paradigm in most terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems, yet accurate measurement of consumer trophic position within detrital (="brown") food webs has remained unresolved. Measurement of detritivore trophic position is complicated by the fact that detritus is suffused with microbes, creating a detrital complex of living and nonliving biomass. Given that microbes and metazoans are trophic analogues of each other, animals feeding on detrital complexes are ingesting other detritivores (microbes), which should elevate metazoan trophic position and should be rampant within brown food webs. We tested these hypotheses using isotopic (15N) analyses of amino acids extracted from wild and laboratory-cultured consumers. Vertebrate (fish) and invertebrate detritivores (beetles and moths) were reared on detritus, with and without microbial colonization. In the field, detritivorous animal specimens were collected and analyzed to compare trophic identities among laboratory-reared and free-roaming detritivores. When colonized by bacteria or fungi, the trophic positions of detrital complexes increased significantly over time. The magnitude of trophic inflation was mediated by the extent of microbial con...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 20, 2018·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Anton M PotapovStefan Scheu
Jun 13, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Prarthana S DharampalShawn A Steffan
Jul 15, 2020·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Lea HeidrichJörg Müller
Oct 20, 2020·Ecology and Evolution·Matias LedesmaAgnes M L Karlson
Mar 7, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Phillip J HaubrockPeter Haase
Feb 8, 2019·Environmental Science & Technology·Martin Tsz-Ki TsuiJacques C Finlay
Sep 22, 2018·IScience·Erin S KeebaughWilliam W Ja

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