Temperature and nutrients drive eco-phenotypic dynamics in a microbial food web

Anthropogenic increases in temperature and nutrient loads will likely impact food web structure and stability. Although their independent effects have been reasonably well studied, their joint effects-particularly on coupled ecological and phenotypic dynamics-remain poorly understood. Here we experimentally manipulated temperature and nutrient levels in microbial food webs and used time-series analysis to quantify the strength of reciprocal effects between ecological and phenotypic dynamics across trophic levels. We found that (1) joint-often interactive-effects of temperature and nutrients on ecological dynamics are more common at higher trophic levels, (2) temperature and nutrients interact to shift the relative strength of top-down versus bottom-up control, and (3) rapid phenotypic change mediates observed ecological responses to changes in temperature and nutrients. Our results uncover how feedback between ecological and phenotypic dynamics mediate food web responses to environmental change. This suggests important but previously unknown ways that temperature and nutrients might jointly control the rapid eco-phenotypic feedback that determine food web dynamics in a changing world.

Automated summary

Anthropogenic increases in temperature and nutrient loads can affect food web structure and stability. However, their joint effects on ecological and phenotypic dynamics are not well understood. In this study, temperature and nutrient levels were manipulated in microbial food webs to investigate the reciprocal effects between ecological and phenotypic dynamics across trophic levels. The results showed that joint effects of temperature and nutrients are more common at higher trophic levels, and rapid phenotypic change plays a role in the observed ecological responses. These findings highlight previously unknown ways in which temperature and nutrients jointly control food web dynamics in a changing world.