A Possible Warning Signal for Losses in Resilience to Entire Ecosystems

Professors Ken Frank (Queen’s University) and Neil Rooney (University of Guelph) look at datasets to identify robust ecosystem indicators in freshwater and marine fisheries.

Under what conditions can trophic diversity relationships be eroded? Our Scale Invariance in Aquatic Ecosystems working group seeks to answer that very question as we study patterns in trophic diversity relationships within aquatic ecosystems where species turnover is often significant (e.g. natural variation in temporal movement patterns, climate change, and invasions).

From a fish perspective, we’ve found a remarkably constant ratio in diversity between trophic levels in time and space. Could this structure, then, be a warning signal for potential losses in resilience to whole ecosystems? Early results, while largely derived from studies carried out on marine ecosystems, suggest that these patterns may be symbolic of the structural rivets that bind large ecosystems together as certain types of heavy fishing pressure appear to drive an increase in variance. We’re now transitioning to the data-rich Great Lakes and relevant inland freshwater lakes as we dig into the population dynamics therein with a goal of completing a paper on our findings.

Professors Ken Frank (Queen’s University) and Neil Rooney (University of Guelph) collaborate alongside Postdoctoral Fellow Reilly O’Connor as they synthesize data for integration into a resultant paper.