谷物蛋白对白酒发酵过程中微生物群落及其代谢多样性的调控

[背景] 在白酒发酵过程中,原料中的谷物蛋白可为微生物的生长提供氮源等营养物质,进而形成多种代谢产物。谷物蛋白可分为清蛋白、球蛋白、醇溶蛋白和谷蛋白。然而,谷物蛋白对微生物多样性及其代谢产物多样性的调控尚不明确。[目的] 揭示白酒发酵过程中与微生物多样性及其代谢产物多样性显著相关的关键谷物蛋白种类及其调控作用。[方法] 通过Osborne法测定不同品种高粱中谷物蛋白的组成;采用多组学联用技术解析4种高粱在发酵过程中的微生物菌群多样性及代谢产物多样性;通过模拟发酵揭示原料中影响微生物群落及其代谢多样性的关键蛋白。[结果] 4种高粱中的谷物蛋白组成存在显著差异（ANOSIM：R=0.85,P=0.001）;4种高粱在发酵第5天时,S4高粱的细菌多样性显著（P<0.05）高于其他3种高粱,S3高粱中微生物的代谢产物多样性显著（P<0.05）高于其他3种高粱;清蛋白和球蛋白含量与发酵第5天的优势细菌多样性（R²=0.34,P<0.05;R²=0.58,P<0.05）和代谢产物多样性呈显著正相关（R²=0.58,P<0.05;R²=0.36,P<0.05）,被定义为关键蛋白;模拟发酵实验验证了优势细菌多样性和代谢产物多样性可随着2种关键蛋白即清蛋白和球蛋白含量的升高而升高。当清蛋白含量在3.0 g/L时,优势细菌多样性及代谢产物多样性可分别达到0.72和0.65;当球蛋白含量在3.0 g/L时,优势细菌多样性及代谢产物多样性可分别达到0.66和0.81。[结论] 研究揭示了酿造原料中的清蛋白和球蛋白对发酵过程中细菌多样性及代谢产物多样性的调控作用,为提高白酒发酵的可控性及质量提供了依据。     

基于Illumina MiSeq测序技术对冰川棘豆(Oxytropis glacialis)不同组织内生菌多样性的研究

植物内生菌（Endophyte）在宿主植物组织中的分布规律是内生菌对外界适应的重要机制。基于Illumina MiSeq测序技术,对适应青藏高原极端环境的主要疯草植物-冰川棘豆叶和根组织中的内生菌16S rRNA、ITS rDNA进行高通量测序和生物信息学分析,通过明晰内生菌在冰川棘豆组织中的菌群结构、功能以及环境之间的关系,探讨了组织间内生菌的分布特征对冰川棘豆适应极端环境的可能影响。分析结果表明,冰川棘豆组织间共有菌属丰度占菌属总丰度90%以上,不同组织间形成了保守性内生细菌和特异性内生真菌共存的群落结构特点,植物组织结构和环境的影响可能为推动内生菌选择合适的组织生态位定植提供动力,其中土壤含水量显著影响内生细菌（R²=0.241,P=0.024）和内生真菌（R²=0.223,P=0.031）的组间Beta多样性,土壤pH值显著影响内生真菌（R²=0.571,P < 0.001）Alpha多样性丰富度指数,而环境因素对组织间存在显著差异的内生菌功能和营养型解释并不显著。综合认为,保守性与差异性的内生菌菌群结构和功能为植物不同组织适应极端环境提供帮助,这有利于冰川棘豆的生存与扩散。     

吉林省天然阔叶混交林生态系统多功能性及驱动因素

量化天然林生态系统的多功能性,分析不同功能间的权衡-协同关系及驱动因子,对于天然林保护及修复具有重要的意义。基于吉林省第8次森林资源清查天然阔叶混交林固定样地调查数据、土壤及气候数据,选取土壤保持、涵养水源、碳储量、气候调节、土壤肥力维持、生物多样性、生产力和木材生产8个生态系统功能来表征生态系统多功能性。利用平均值法中的最大值转换法计算多功能性指数。结果表明：（1）8个功能间权衡、协同和中性关系均存在,但以协同关系为主。生物多样性除与气候调节为权衡关系外,与其他功能均为协同关系;碳储量-木材生产协同关系最强（r=0.960,P<0.01）,气候调节-涵养水源间权衡关系最强（r=-0.934,P<0.01）;（2）吉林省天然阔叶混交林的多功能性指数在0.31-0.89之间,且生物多样性和气候调节为主导功能;（3）多功能性与驱动因子的结构方程模型确定系数为R²=0.795,多功能性的驱动因子的总路径系数依次为：林分密度指数（0.752） > 平均年龄（0.375） > 年降雨量（0.365） > 树种丰富度（0.101） > 土壤pH（0.064） > 结构多样性（-0.037） > 年均温（-0.105）,林分密度是最重要的驱动因子。结果对理解天然阔叶混交林的多功能形成及经营调控有一定的意义。     

“山水林田湖草生命共同体”要素关联性分析——以长白山地区为例

对“山水林田湖草生命共同体”各要素相互关系的深入理解是对其实行保护、系统治理的重要基础。本研究以长白山地区为研究对象,利用空间叠置分析法定量分析该地区“山水林田湖草生命共同体”各要素间的关联性,解构各要素的关系以及相互影响程度,并量化其依存关系。研究结果显示：研究区内各市人口数量、城镇面积与耕地面积呈显著正相关关系（人口数量：R²=0.789,P < 0.05; 城镇面积：R²=0.863,P < 0.05）;耕地的分布与地表水体的分布具有较高的空间相关性（r=0.812）,两者的数量关系也呈显著正相关（R²=0.96,P < 0.01）;区内河流分布、土壤类型与地形、地貌密切相关;区内各市水土流失面积与其森林覆盖率呈显著线性负相关关系（R²=0.824,P < 0.05）。由此可见,6个要素之间存在很明显的依存关系。因此,长白山地区“山水林田湖草生命共同体”的保护与修复应该重视各要素之间的联系,针对其系统性和整体性特征实施相应的保护和治理。     

流域水文变化对胡杨荒漠河岸林林窗及形成木特征的影响

林窗作为森林生态系统得以长期维持的主要驱动力之一,能够促进森林的自然更新与演替、优化森林结构和养分循环,从而提高生物多样性及生态系统服务功能。基于塔里木河中游历年径流量、耗水量与地下水埋深等水文数据,利用回归模型、拟合优度t检验与种群结构动态定量相结合的方法,分析了研究区水文条件对胡杨荒漠河岸林林窗数量及其形成木种群结构与动态的影响。结果表明：1）1970年前塔里木河中游水量较为充足,在一定程度上可满足胡杨生存发育的需水量。自1980年来,塔里木河中游年径流量（R²=0.785,P < 0.01）与耗水量（R²=0.524,P < 0.01）呈明显减少趋势、地下水日益匮乏,其埋深呈直线下滑趋势（R²=0.8618,P < 0.01）。这导致河道两岸的胡杨林生态用水日益紧缺,从而引起胡杨林林窗现象频繁出现,尤其是在1997-2006年期间。2）随着中游年径流量与耗水量逐渐减少、地下水埋深逐渐增加,林窗内胡杨形成木数量则变为增长趋势。3）林窗形成木除1957-1966、1967-1976年属衰退型外,1977-1986、1987-1996、1997-2006和2007-2016年均呈现增长型特征。特别是林窗内胡杨形成木Ⅱ级幼龄树大幅度增加,其表现出胡杨林年龄结构的老龄化特征。4）由模型显示,林窗及其形成木数量与径流量之间存在显著性负相关,径流量降至17.81×10⁸ m³时,林窗内的胡杨将面临高峰死亡。由此可知,在干旱区水文条件是决定胡杨生死的主导因子,也是塔里木河中游荒漠河岸林林窗形成的主要原因。     

深圳市建成区入侵植物对草本植物种类及功能多样性的影响

入侵植物对城市生态系统形成潜在威胁,有待引起足够的关注。为探究城市入侵植物对草本植物种类及功能多样性的影响,以深圳市建成区入侵植物鬼针草（Bidens pilosa）和南美蟛蜞菊（Sphagneticola trilobata）为例,分析了不同绿地类型中不同程度的单独入侵和共同入侵对草本植物群落物种多样性和功能多样性的影响规律。结果显示：①Margalef物种丰富度指数、Shannon-Wiener多样性指数、Simpson优势度指数和Pielou均匀度指数均与入侵植物盖度呈显著负相关（P<0.05,0.5865 < R² < 0.9356）。②功能丰富度指数（FRic）、功能均匀度指数（FEve）和Rao二次熵指数（FD_Q）与入侵植物盖度有一定的相关关系（0.0000 < R² < 0.2211）。③群落的特征加权平均株高（CWM_H）与入侵植物盖度有一定的正相关关系（0.0716 < R² < 0.2262）。④与未入侵的样方相比,鬼针草轻度入侵显著提高了物种多样性（P<0.05）,鬼针草和南美蟛蜞菊单独重度入侵均显著降低物种多样性（P<0.05）,二者各种程度的分别单独入侵及共同入侵都显著提高了群落加权平均株高（CWM_H）（P<0.05）。⑤对不同的绿地类型分开计算发现,鬼针草单独入侵和二者共同入侵都显著提高了各种绿地类型的物种多样性（P<0.05）,南美蟛蜞菊单独入侵只对部分绿地类型的群落物种多样性影响显著。⑥鬼针草和南美蟛蜞菊之间的生态效应可能为拮抗作用。研究结果为进一步揭示植物入侵对城市草本植物群落的影响规律提供参考,为有效防治城市外来植物入侵提供一定的依据。     

中国亚热带-暖温带过渡区锐齿栎林净生态系统碳交换特征

在2017年1月1日-2017年12月31日期间,采用涡度相关法对位于亚热带-暖温带气候过渡区的河南宝天曼国家级自然保护区的65年生锐齿栎（Quercus aliena）天然次生林的碳通量进行了连续观测。结果表明：在观测期间,该森林生态系统在生长季5-10月份为碳汇,非生长季各月为碳源,净碳吸收量与释放量分别在7月和4月达到最大。净生态系统生产力为569.4 g C m^-2a^-1,生态系统呼吸为529.9 g C m^-2a^-1,总生态系统生产力为1099.3 g C m^-2a^-1。30min尺度上夜间净生态系统碳交换量与5cm深度土壤温度的关系可用指数方程表示（R²=0.21,P < 0.001）,其温度敏感性系数（Temperature sensitivity coefficient,Q₁₀）为2.2。如果排除夜间通量观测的误差,处在海拔较高地区的夜间低温和非生长季的低温抑制了生态系统呼吸排放,可能导致全年生态系统呼吸量较低。在生长季5-10月份,各月的白天净生态系统碳交换量对光合有效辐射的响应符合直角双曲线模型,初始光能利用效率、平均最大光合速率和白天平均生态系统呼吸强度呈明显的季节变化,范围分别是0.06-0.12 μmol CO₂ μmol^-1 photon、0.44-1.47 mg CO₂ m^-2s^-1和0.07-0.19 mg CO₂ m^-2s^-1。夏季7、8月份,较高的饱和水汽压差对白天锐齿栎林的碳吸收有明显的抑制作用;生长季末期9月份较高的土壤含水量对白天锐齿栎林的碳吸收也产生了抑制作用,表明生长末期降水过多影响森林的碳吸收。     

枯落物输入变化对云南松林地CO2释放的影响

为研究枯落物输入变化对云南松（Pinus yunnanensis）林地CO₂释放的影响。本研究于2018年3月至2020年2月,应用枯落物添加和去除实验（DIRT）,设置对照（CK）、双倍枯落物（DL）、去除枯落物（NL）、去除有机层和A层（O/A-Less）、去除根系（NR）和无输入（NI）6个处理水平,采用Li-6400便携式光合作用测量仪及TRIME-PICO 64/32土壤温度水分测定仪对不同处理样地每月的CO₂通量（R_s）、土壤温度和土壤水分（15cm）进行了测定。结果表明：（1）不同处理样地CO₂通量均呈现出明显的月变化,7至8月最高,1至4月最低,平均值表现为R_{s （DL）}=8.10 μmol m^-2 s^-1 > R_{s （CK）}=6.27 μmol m^-2 s^-1 > R_{s （NL）}=5.44 μmol m^-2 s^-1 > R_{s （NR）}=4.46 μmol m^-2 s^-1 > R_{s （O/A-Less）}=3.86 μmol m^-2 s^-1 > R_{s （NI）}=2.94 μmol m^-2 s^-1。（2）与CK相比,DL样地CO₂通量升高了29.12%,而去除地上枯落物和地下根系样地CO₂通量显著降低,CO₂通量平均变幅分别为α（NR）=-28.85%,α（NI）=-53.14%,α（O/A-Less）=-38.46%,α（NL）=-13.29%。（3）不同处理土壤水分和土壤温度均存在显著的月变化（P<0.01）,NL和O/A-Less的土壤水分显著低于CK,而其余处理与CK间无显著差异（P>0.05）;不同处理间土壤温度表现为NR和NI均显著高于CK,其余处理与CK间无显著差异（P>0.05）。（4）不同处理样地CO₂通量与土壤温度呈显著指数相关（P<0.01）,与土壤水分在NI和O/A-Less处理中无显著相关（P>0.05）;与CK相比,NI、O/A-Less和NL处理的Q₁₀增加,而NR和DL处理的Q₁₀则降低;不同处理林地CO₂通量与土壤水热因子双因素模型能更好的解释林地CO₂通量的变化。本研究表明枯落物不同处理通过改变土壤碳输入和土壤环境因子从而影响生态系统碳排放,研究结果可为未来气候变化和人为干扰下云南松林的碳循环提供基础数据。     

休眠卵孵化对策与食物浓度对萼花臂尾轮虫(Brachionus calyciflorus)两品系干雌体种群增长的影响

周期性孤雌繁殖的轮虫靠休眠卵度过不良环境,等环境适宜时休眠卵孵化出干雌体,再次通过孤雌繁殖建立种群。通常休眠卵要经历一段休眠期再孵化,但也有些休眠卵生成后很快孵化,称为早孵化现象。有关休眠卵不同孵化对策如何影响其干雌体克隆种群的增长,目前尚不清楚。分别观测了萼花臂尾轮虫（Brachionus calyciflorus）的两个品系H1（窄温度生态位）和D1（宽温度生态位）的休眠卵在不同孵化对策和不同食物浓度下所生产的干雌体克隆群的种群增长差异。孵化对策包括早孵化（early hatching,EH）和晚孵化（late hatching,LH）;食物浓度包括高食物浓度（high food concentration,HF：2×10⁶个细胞/mL）和低食物浓度（low food concentration,LF：5×10⁵个细胞/mL）,每个品系下各设置4个实验组（LH-HF、LH-LF、EH-HF、EH-LF）,每组10个重复。结果发现,对D1品系来说：孵化对策和食物浓度对最大种群数量具有显著的综合影响（P=0.002）,但两因素间不存在交互作用（P=0.911）;早孵化的干雌体种群在最大种群数量上显著高于晚孵化的干雌体种群（P=0.001）。对H1品系：孵化对策和食物浓度对最大种群数量综合影响显著（P<0.001）,且两个因素之间存在交互作用（P<0.001）;高食物浓度下,EH干雌体克隆群的最大种群数量显著低于LH干雌体克隆群（P<0.001）。高食物浓度下干雌体克隆群开始有性生殖的密度阈值,D1品系EH组显著高于LH组（P=0.041）;而H1品系EH组却显著低于LH组（P=0.022）。最高种群密度下,H1品系的有性生殖率在两种孵化对策之间存在显著差异（P=0.044）,EH种群的有性生殖率低于LH种群,而D品系却未见有性生殖率在不同孵化对策间存在明显差异。本研究结果显示休眠卵的孵化对策会影响其后代干雌体种群的增长特性,其影响的结果可能与种群的生境适应相关。     

土壤含水量驱动土壤病毒和细菌多度及其与土壤异养呼吸关系的变化

土壤微生物是维持陆地生态系统稳定性和功能的重要组成部分。病毒是地球上数量最多的生物实体,也是若干类型生境中微生物数量的重要调节者。因此,了解病毒与微生物的相互作用,对深入认识包括碳循环在内的生态系统过程具有重要意义。在实验室建立土壤微宇宙实验系统,跟踪调查恒定低含水量、恒定高含水量和波动含水量3种水分处理下土壤病毒和细菌多度的变化,以及土壤异养呼吸速率对土壤病毒-细菌相互作用的响应。相较于低水分处理,高水分处理显著增加了病毒多度（P<0.001）和病毒-细菌多度比（P=0.0026）,波动水分处理显著增加了病毒多度（P<0.001）。在高水分处理的土壤微宇宙中,细菌和病毒多度呈现出随时间动荡的信号,即细菌多度表现出增加-降低-增加的趋势,而病毒多度则表现出增加-降低的趋势,且其变化滞后于细菌。土壤异养呼吸速率与土壤含水量（P<0.001）、细菌多度（P=0.0045）和病毒多度（P<0.001）都具有显著的正相关关系。这些结果说明：病毒导致的下行控制可能是细菌多度的重要影响因子,在水分增加情形下,病毒有可能通过加速细菌的更新速率进而加速土壤呼吸。因此,病毒与细菌的相互作用可能是碳循环的重要决定因素。     

Predator and detritivore niche width helps to explain biocomplexity of experimental detritus-based food webs in four aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

In the study of food webs, the existence and explanation of recurring patterns, such as the scale invariance of linkage density, predator–prey ratios and mean chain length, constitute long-standing issues. Our study focused on litter-associated food webs and explored the influence of detritivore and predator niche width (as δ¹³C range) on web topological structure. To compare patterns within and between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and take account of intra-habitat variability, we constructed 42 macroinvertebrate patch-scale webs in four different habitats (lake, lagoon, beech forest and cornfield), using an experimental approach with litterbags. The results suggest that although web differences exist between ecosystems, patterns are more similar within than between aquatic and terrestrial web types. In accordance with optimal foraging theory, we found that the niche width of predators and prey increased with the number of predators and prey taxa as a proportion of total taxa in the community. The tendency was more marked in terrestrial ecosystems and can be explained by a lower per capita food level than in aquatic ecosystems, particularly evident for predators. In accordance with these results, the number of links increased with the number of species but with a significantly sharper regression slope for terrestrial ecosystems. As a consequence, linkage density, which was found to be directly correlated to niche width, increased with the total number of species in terrestrial webs, whereas it did not change significantly in aquatic ones, where connectance scaled negatively with the total number of species. In both types of ecosystem, web robustness to rare species removal increased with connectance and the niche width of predators. In conclusion, although limited to litter-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages, this study highlights structural differences and similarities between aquatic and terrestrial detrital webs, providing field evidence of the central role of niche width in determining the structure of detritus-based food webs and posing foraging optimisation constraints as a general mechanistic explanation of food web complexity differences within and between ecosystem types.     

Parasites alter the topology of a stream food web across seasons

Relatively few published food webs have included parasites, and in this study we examined the animal community in a stream across eight contiguous seasons to test how inclusion of helminth parasites alters the topology or structure of the food web. Food webs constructed for each season and analyzed using common binary matrix measures show that species richness, linkage density, and the number of observed and possible links increased when parasites were included as individual species nodes. With parasite–parasite and predator–parasite links omitted, measures of community complexity, such as connectance (C), generally increased over multiple seasons. However, relative nestedness (n*) decreased when parasites were included, which may be a result of low resolution of basal resources inflating specialist-to-specialist links. Overall, adding parasites resulted in moderate changes in food web measures when compared to those of four other published food webs representing different ecosystems. In addition, including parasites in the food web revealed consistent pathways of energy flow, and the association of parasite life histories along these pathways suggest stable evolutionary groups of interacting species within the community. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Persistence increases with diversity and connectance in trophic metacommunities

Background

We are interested in understanding if metacommunity dynamics contribute to the persistence of complex spatial food webs subject to colonization-extinction dynamics. We study persistence as a measure of stability of communities within discrete patches, and ask how do species diversity, connectance, and topology influence it in spatially structured food webs.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We answer this question first by identifying two general mechanisms linking topology of simple food web modules and persistence at the regional scale. We then assess the robustness of these mechanisms to more complex food webs with simulations based on randomly created and empirical webs found in the literature. We find that linkage proximity to primary producers and food web diversity generate a positive relationship between complexity and persistence in spatial food webs. The comparison between empirical and randomly created food webs reveal that the most important element for food web persistence under spatial colonization-extinction dynamics is the degree distribution: the number of prey species per consumer is more important than their identity.

Conclusions/Significance

With a simple set of rules governing patch colonization and extinction, we have predicted that diversity and connectance promote persistence at the regional scale. The strength of our approach is that it reconciles the effect of complexity on stability at the local and the regional scale. Even if complex food webs are locally prone to extinction, we have shown their complexity could also promote their persistence through regional dynamics. The framework we presented here offers a novel and simple approach to understand the complexity of spatial food webs.     

Is resolution the solution?: the effect of taxonomic resolution on the calculated properties of three stream food webs

• 1 The influence of the level of taxonomic resolution on estimates of food‐web properties was studied in three grassland streams in New Zealand. The food webs, each of which contained ≈ 100 species of algae, macroinvertebrates and fish, were progressively aggregated into higher taxonomic groupings and the effect on food‐web properties was assessed. Aggregation was also carried out differentially on particular taxonomic groups to mimic the usual approach to taxonomy in stream food‐web studies.
• 2 Of the commonly used food‐web properties, mean chain length and linkage complexity varied little with the degree of taxonomic resolution. Estimates of connectance were markedly higher in coarsely resolved (family level) food webs, possibly as a result of a decrease in the number of web elements.
• 3 Connectance, linkage density, linkage complexity and prey : predator ratios, but not mean chain length, were strongly affected by inconsistency in the level of resolution used among different taxonomic groups within a food web.
• 4 In order to make meaningful comparisons among food webs a standardised approach to methodology, resolution and effort is needed.

     

Food web structure in Mediterranean streams: exploring stabilizing forces in these ecosystems

We constructed the food webs of six Mediterranean streams in order to determine ecological generalities derived from analysis of their structure and to explore stabilizing forces within these ecosystems. Fish, macroinvertebrates, primary producers and detritus are the components of the studied food webs. Analysis focused on a suite of food web properties that describe species’ trophic habits, linkage complexity and food chains. A great structural similarity was found in analyzed food webs; we therefore suggest average values for the structural properties of Mediterranean stream food webs. Percentage of omnivorous species was positively correlated with connectance, and there was a predominance of intermediate trophic level species that had established simple links with detritus. In short, our results suggest that omnivory and the weak interactions of detritivores have a stabilizing role in these food webs.     

How habitat-modifying organisms structure the food web of two coastal ecosystems

The diversity and structure of ecosystems has been found to depend both on trophic interactions in food webs and on other species interactions such as habitat modification and mutualism that form non-trophic interaction networks. However, quantification of the dependencies between these two main interaction networks has remained elusive. In this study, we assessed how habitat-modifying organisms affect basic food web properties by conducting in-depth empirical investigations of two ecosystems: North American temperate fringing marshes and West African tropical seagrass meadows. Results reveal that habitat-modifying species, through non-trophic facilitation rather than their trophic role, enhance species richness across multiple trophic levels, increase the number of interactions per species (link density), but decrease the realized fraction of all possible links within the food web (connectance). Compared to the trophic role of the most highly connected species, we found this non-trophic effects to be more important for species richness and of more or similar importance for link density and connectance. Our findings demonstrate that food webs can be fundamentally shaped by interactions outside the trophic network, yet intrinsic to the species participating in it. Better integration of non-trophic interactions in food web analyses may therefore strongly contribute to their explanatory and predictive capacity.     

Algivory in food webs of three temperate Andean rivers

Food web analyses have been fundamental in understanding community organization and ecosystem functioning. To date, a number of studies demonstrate that stream food webs depend to a large extent on allochthonous detritus, but there are more recent studies that show a high degree of autochthony. Our food‐web study was carried out in three Andean rivers (Coilaco, Guampoe and Trancura) within the catchment area of Toltén River in southern Chile. Based on the analyses of 4251 invertebrate gut contents, we found that these Andean stream food webs are dominated by herbivores (range: 50–73% of all species) supported by a species‐rich algal (basal) component, and characterized by a low proportion of omnivores (range: 8–27% of all species) and predatory species (range: 10–24%). Significant differences in the number of feeding links of the herbivores Meridialis diguillina and Antarctoperla michaelseni and the omnivore Smicridea chilensis were found between seasons. The spring herbivore Aubertoperla sp. showed significant differences between rivers. S. chilensis fed on 50 different prey items as compared with the herbivores whose maximum number of links ranged between 37 and 40. Web sizes ranged between 93 and 131 species and the proportion of top species was distinctly lower than those of basal (up to 0.651 in Coilaco River) and intermediate species. Direct connectance (links per species²) values were low and similar among rivers (range: 0.051–0.074), whereas mean food chain length ranged between 2.23 and 2.90. The distributions of web property values from the Andean rivers differed from those previously published. In contrast to previous predictions, mean food chain length in these Andean streams displayed a scale‐invariant pattern across different web sizes, but it was significantly related to the proportion of intermediate species.     

Food web stability and weighted connectance: the complexity-stability debate revisited

How the complexity of food webs relates to stability has been a subject of many studies. Often, unweighted connectance is used to express complexity. Unweighted connectance is measured as the proportion of realized links in the network. Weighted connectance, on the other hand, takes link weights (fluxes or feeding rates) into account and captures the shape of the flux distribution. Here, we used weighted connectance to revisit the relation between complexity and stability. We used 15 real soil food webs and determined the feeding rates and the interaction strength matrices. We calculated both versions of connectance, and related these structural properties to food web stability. We also determined the skewness of both flux and interaction strength distributions with the Gini coefficient. We found no relation between unweighted connectance and food web stability, but weighted connectance was positively correlated with stability. This finding challenges the notion that complexity may constrain stability, and supports the ‘complexity begets stability’ notion. The positive correlation between weighted connectance and stability implies that the more evenly flux rates were distributed over links, the more stable the webs were. This was confirmed by the Gini coefficients of both fluxes and interaction strengths. However, the most even distributions of this dataset still were strongly skewed towards small fluxes or weak interaction strengths. Thus, incorporating these distribution with many weak links via weighted instead of unweighted food web measures can shed new light on classical theories.     

Will a large complex system be productive?

While the relationship between food web complexity and stability has been well documented, how complexity affects productivity remains elusive. In this study, we combine food web theory and a data set of 149 aquatic food webs to investigate the effect of complexity (i.e. species richness, connectance, and average interaction strength) on ecosystem productivity. We find that more complex ecosystems tend to be more productive, although different facets of complexity have contrasting effects. A higher species richness and/or average interaction strength increases productivity, whereas a higher connectance often decreases it. These patterns hold not only between realized complexity and productivity, but also characterize responses of productivity to simulated declines of complexity. Our model also predicts a negative association between productivity and stability along gradients of complexity. Empirical analyses support our predictions on positive complexity-productivity relationships and negative productivity-stability relationships. Our study provides a step forward towards reconciling ecosystem complexity, productivity and stability.