TY - GEN A1 - Shipley, J. Ryan A1 - Oester, Rebecca A1 - Mathieu-Resuge, Margaux A1 - Parmar, Tarn Preet A1 - Kowarik, Carmen A1 - Ilíć, Maja A1 - Kainz, Martin J. A1 - Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik A1 - Obrist, Martin K. A1 - Graham, Catherine H. A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Matthews, Blake A1 - Twining, Cornelia W. T1 - Consumer biodiversity increases organic nutrient availability across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems T2 - Science N2 - Human land-use intensification threatens arthropod (for example, insect and spider) biodiversity across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Insects and spiders play critical roles in ecosystems by accumulating and synthesizing organic nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). However, links between biodiversity and nutrient content of insect and spider communities have yet to be quantified. We relate insect and spider richness to biomass and PUFA-mass from stream and terrestrial communities encompassing nine land uses. PUFA-mass and biomass relate positively to biodiversity across ecosystems. In terrestrial systems, human-dominated areas have lower biomass and PUFA-mass than more natural areas, even at equivalent levels of richness. Aquatic ecosystems have consistently higher PUFA-mass than terrestrial ecosystems. Our findings reinforce the importance of conserving biodiversity and highlight the distinctive benefits of aquatic biodiversity. KW - land-use KW - predator richness KW - polyunsaturated fatty acid Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp6198 SN - 0036-8075 VL - 386 IS - 6719 SP - 335 EP - 340 PB - American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kowarik, Carmen A1 - Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik A1 - Mathers, Kate L. A1 - Weber, Christine A1 - Robinson, Christopher T. T1 - Stream degradation affects aquatic resource subsidies to riparian ground-dwelling spiders T2 - Science of The Total Environment N2 - Freshwater systems have undergone drastic alterations during the last century, potentially affecting cross-boundary resource transfers between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. One important connection is the export of biomass by emergent aquatic insects containing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), that is scarce in terrestrial systems. Because of taxon-specific differences in PUFA content and functional traits, the contribution of different insect groups should be considered, in addition to total biomass export. In this context, one important trait is the emergence mode. Stoneflies, in contrast to other aquatic insects, crawl to land to emerge instead of flying directly from the water surface, making them accessible to ground-dwelling predators. Because stoneflies are especially susceptible to environmental change, stream degradation might cause a mismatch of available and required nutrients, particularly for ground-dwelling predators. In this study, we estimated emergent biomass and EPA export along two streams with different levels of habitat degradation. The EPA content in aquatic insects did not differ with different degrees of habitat degradation and total biomass export in spring was with 7.9 ± 9.6 mg m−2 day−1 in the degraded and 7.3 ± 8.5 mg m−2 day−1 in the natural system, also unaffected. However, habitat degradation substantially altered the contribution of crawling emergence to the total export in spring, with no biomass export by stoneflies at the most degraded sites. The EPA content in ground-dwelling spiders was correlated with emergent stonefly biomass, making up only 16.0 ± 6.2 % of total fatty acids at sites with no stonefly emergence, but 27.3 ± 3.0 % at sites with highest stonefly emergence. Because immune function in ground-dwelling spiders has been connected to EPA levels, reduced crawling emergence might impact spider fitness. Functional traits, like emergence mode as well as nutritional quality, should be considered when assessing the effects of stream degradation on adjacent terrestrial ecosystems. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158658 SN - 1879-1026 VL - 855 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Twining, Cornelia W. A1 - Blanco, Andreu A1 - Dutton, Christopher A1 - Kainz, Martin J. A1 - Harvey, Eric A1 - Kowarik, Carmen A1 - Kraus, Johanna M. A1 - Razavi, N. Roxanna A1 - Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik A1 - Parmar, Tarn Preet A1 - Richoux, Nicole A1 - Saboret, Gregoire A1 - Sarran, Charlie A1 - Schmidt, Travis S. A1 - Shipley, J. Ryan A1 - Subalusky, Amanda L. T1 - Integrating the bright and dark sides of aquatic resource subsidies—a synthesis T2 - Ecology letters N2 - Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are linked through the reciprocal exchange of materials and organisms. Aquatic-to-terrestrial subsidies are relatively small in most terrestrial ecosystems, but they can provide high contents of limiting resources that increase consumer fitness and ecosystem production. However, they also may carry significant contaminant loads, particularly in anthropogenically impacted watersheds. Global change processes, including land use change, climate change and biodiversity declines, are altering the quantity and quality of aquatic subsidies, potentially shifting the balance of costs and benefits of aquatic subsidies for terrestrial consumers. Many global change processes interact and impact both the bright and dark sides of aquatic subsidies simultaneously, highlighting the need for future integrative research that bridges ecosystem as well as disciplinary boundaries. We identify key research priorities, including increased quantification of the spatiotemporal variability in aquatic subsidies across a range of ecosystems, greater understanding of the landscape-scale extent of aquatic subsidy impacts and deeper exploration of the relative costs and benefits of aquatic subsidies for consumers. KW - Aquatic subsidy KW - Biodiversity KW - Climate change KW - Contaminants KW - Land use change KW - Nutrients KW - Resource subsidie Y1 - 2025 UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.70109 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70109 SN - 1461-0248 SN - 1461-023X VL - 28 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Wiley ER -