Climate change creates nutritional phenological mismatches

Article Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Climate change shifts the timing of nutritional flux from aquatic insects

J. Ryan Shipley et al.

Summary: Climate change can lead to mismatches between resource supply and consumer demand, which can have negative effects on fitness. This study found that aquatic insects reach peak biomass earlier in the season than terrestrial insects, and the availability of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFAs) to consumers depends largely on the phenology of aquatic insect emergence. This results in nutritional phenological mismatches for consumers, as highly nutritious aquatic insects cannot be simply replaced by terrestrial insects.

CURRENT BIOLOGY (2022)

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Review Ecology

Critical links between biodiversity and health in wild bee conservation

M. A. Parreno et al.

Summary: This article discusses the impact of human activities on wild bee populations and the interaction between bee health and nutrition. The authors define bee health as a multidimensional concept and propose a novel integrative framework linking bee biological traits and environmental factors. Studying the relationship between health and nutritional niches in different bee species can help predict their responses to environmental change.

TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION (2022)

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Article Ecology

Stoichiometric mismatch causes a warming-induced regime shift in experimental plankton communities

Sebastian Diehl et al.

Summary: In many ecosystems, consumers and resources may exhibit temporal mismatches in response to warming, leading to differences in seasonal demand and availability. However, the mismatch in food quality is an equally pervasive but less recognized threat to the temporal coherence of consumer-resource interactions.

ECOLOGY (2022)

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Article Ecology

The evolutionary ecology of fatty-acid variation: Implications for consumer adaptation and diversification

Cornelia W. Twining et al.

Summary: The nutritional diversity of resources can impact the adaptive evolution of consumer metabolism and diversification. Omega-3 fatty acids have a significant influence on consumer fitness. Consumers can evolve in response to resource quality variations and genetic mechanisms underpinning consumer adaptation to fatty acid distributions are important for understanding evolutionary diversification.

ECOLOGY LETTERS (2021)

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Article Ecology

Dynamic selection for forage quality and quantity in response to phenology and insects in an Arctic ungulate

Heather E. Johnson et al.

Summary: Spatiotemporal variation in forage is a key factor driving ungulate behavior, with caribou selecting for different nutritional components throughout the growing season. Climate change may further impact caribou access to quality forage due to reduced digestible nitrogen and increased insect harassment. Mosquito activity strongly influences caribou foraging behavior, while oestrid fly activity has minimal impact.

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (2021)

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Article Ecology