Food‐Web Structure and Ecosystem Function in the Laurentian Great
Received: 13 March 2018 | Revised: 14 September 2018 | Accepted: 18 September 2018 DOI: 10.1111/fwb.13203 REVIEW Food- web structure and ecosystem function in the Laurentian Great Lakes—Toward a conceptual model Jessica T. Ives1 | Bailey C. McMeans2 | Kevin S. McCann3 | Aaron T. Fisk4 | Timothy B. Johnson5 | David B. Bunnell6 | Kenneth T. Frank7 | Andrew M. Muir1 1Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Michigan Abstract 2Department of Biology, University of 1. The relationship between food-web structure (i.e., trophic connections, including Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada diet, trophic position, and habitat use, and the strength of these connections) and 3Department of Integrative ecosystem functions (i.e., biological, geochemical, and physical processes in an Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada ecosystem, including decomposition, production, nutrient cycling, and nutrient 4Great Lakes Institute for Environmental and energy flows among community members) determines how an ecosystem re- Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada sponds to perturbations, and thus is key to understanding the adaptive capacity of 5Glenora Fisheries Station, Ontario Ministry a system (i.e., ability to respond to perturbation without loss of essential func- of Natural Resources and Forestry, Picton, tions). Given nearly ubiquitous changing environmental conditions and anthropo- Ontario, Canada genic impacts on global lake ecosystems, understanding the adaptive capacity of 6US Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan food webs supporting important resources, such as commercial, recreational, and 7Department of Fisheries and subsistence fisheries, is vital to ecological and economic stability. Oceans, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Ocean Sciences Division, 2. Herein, we describe a conceptual framework that can be used to explore food- Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada web structure and associated ecosystem functions in large lakes.
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