Predicting the effects of global warming on the stability of food webs

• Grant number: 21/07916-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: September 01, 2021
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Quevedo Romero
• Grantee: Daiane Montoia Comparsi
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/08474-8 - Freshwater ecosystems under climate change: impacts across multiple levels of organisation, AP.PFPMCG.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/05029-1 - Interactive effects of climate change and land use on food webs and energy flux across time, BE.EP.DD

Abstract

Global warming is becoming an important driver of the structure and dynamics of food webs, especially in freshwater ecosystems. The increase in temperature and changes in thermal variability/instability can affect the structure and stability of complex ecological networks, as well as the energy flux in food webs. Ecological networks exhibit various properties that provide descriptions of community dynamics. Detecting changes in food webs characteristics can indicate fundamental disruptions to the processes that maintain the diversity and stability, that control the energy flux through systems. Thus, to understand and answer the questions involving changes in complex ecological networks (food webs) and energy flux in the face of climate change, an experiment in mesocosms will be carried out (i.e., water tanks of 310L), using macro and microorganisms, under three temperatures: (I) control (ambient temperature); (II) +4°C increase to the control temperature; and (III) periodic temperature fluctuations (2 days intervals), with variations from +1°C to +4°C to the control temperature. Through ecological network metrics and energy flux calculations, it will be possible to compare the overall link structure of the food webs, biomass distribution between links, energy flux over the food chain and stability. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DAIANE MONTOIA COMPARSI; EVANILDE BENEDITO. Fator de condição corporal e dieta da ictiofauna endêmica em riachos da Mata Atlântica dentro e fora de uma área de proteção ambiental. IHERINGIA SERIE ZOOLOGIA, v. 113, 2023-05-15. (21/07916-7)