Warm and fragile: Temperature and vulnerability to extinction in pelagic food webs

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthijs Vos
• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: from 2010 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 184793276

A rise in temperature may intensify both feeding links and competitive interactions in food webs of aquatic ectotherms. The proposed research aims to test whether elevated temperatures lead to high amplitude population fluctuations, a rapid loss of top predators and accelerated rates of competitive exclusion. Such destabilisation could lead to cascading extinctions and community closure, which has profound implications for the management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems. I propose a combination of experimental and theoretical research, to provide mechanistic insight into how a rise in temperature affects (i) the dynamics and internal organization of multi-trophic communities of algae, herbivores, omnivores and carnivores, (ii) the chances that populations within these communities persist or collapse, and (iii) the probability that communities become closed, or remain open to recovery, when species losses have already happened.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants