OOS 48
Effects of Disturbance on Consumer Mediated Habitat Linkages

Wednesday, August 12, 2015: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
315, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Ross E. Boucek, Florida International University
Co-organizers:
Jennifer S. Rehage, Florida International University; Linda A. Deegan, Marine Biological Laboratory; Martha E. Mather, Kansas State University; and Jimmy Nelson, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory
Moderator:
Jennifer S. Rehage, Florida International University
One pervasive consequence of increasing disturbance regimes is the simplification of foodwebs. Such simplifications are having profound effects, not only within disturbed ecosystems, but others that maybe connected to the disturbed system via consumer mediated habitat linkages. Consumer mediated habitat linkages can be defined as the transport of biomass to spatially distinct foodwebs through movements of heterotrophic species. These linkages can emerge from the movement of biomass from one ecosystem to the next via consumer ontogenic, seasonal, and reproductive migrations, and also more frequent consumer movements between foraging and refuge habitats. These trophic linkages across disparate foodwebs can govern processes at every ecological scale, substantially contributing to the stability, resistance capacity and resiliency of many natural systems. However, disturbance such as eutrophication, species invasions, overfishing, and other climate disturbances can alter these linkages, driving cascading changes to recipient ecosystems. Yet, how disturbance functions to alter these consumer mediated habitat linkages remains understudied. In this organized special session, we will present a series of cases studies showing how disturbance may either strengthen or weaken consumer mediated connectivity between spatially separated food webs. Speakers will also be encouraged to discuss how changes in these consumer mediated habitat linkages may alter key traits of ecosystem function. With disturbance regimes predicted to become more frequent, it is important that we identify how these perturbations change important consumer mediated habitat linkages, in order to understand future effects on recipient ecosystems that rely on these trophic subsidies.
1:30 PM
 Meta-analysis: Does disturbance have a general positive or negative effect on consumer mediated habitat linkages and trophic subsidies?
Ross E. Boucek, Florida International University; Jennifer S. Rehage, Florida International University; Abid Kahn, Florida International University; Kenneth Adair, Florida Atlantic University
1:50 PM
 Multiple effects of hurricane-induced marine subsides onĀ island food webs
David A. Spiller, University of California, Davis; Louie H. Yang, University of California, Davis; Jonah Piovia-Scott, Washington State University; Amber N. Wright, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Thomas W. Schoener, University of California, Davis
2:10 PM
 Introduced predators and pathogens sever linkages between mountain lakes and surrounding watersheds
Jonah Piovia-Scott, Washington State University; Roland A. Knapp, University of California, Santa Barbara; Karen L. Pope, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research station
2:30 PM
 Trade-offs between site fidelity and local dispersal create heterogeneity in consumer-mediated habitat linkages in a disturbed seascapeĀ 
Martha E. Mather, Kansas State University; Ryland Taylor, Kansas State University; Cristina Kennedy, Center for Coastal Studies; Joseph Smith, University of Washington; Linda A. Deegan, Marine Biological Laboratory; John T. Finn, University of Massachusetts; Kayla Gerber, Kansas State University
2:50 PM
 Of olives and carp: Interactive effects of two invaders on linked stream-riparian food webs
Kaleb Heinrich, Idaho State University; Colden V. Baxter, Idaho State University
3:10 PM
3:20 PM
 Disrupting subsidies to multiple trophic levels shifts top-down and bottom-up control of food webs through time
Amanda J. Klemmer, University of Canterbury; Sophie K. Hunt, University of Canterbury; Kimberly Roberts, University of Canterbury; Hayley Stoddart, University of Canterbury; Angus R. McIntosh, University of Canterbury
3:40 PM
 Experimental evidence that hemlock decline changes the role of detrital subsidies in freshwater food webs
Hamish Greig, University of Maine; Krista A. Capps, University of Maine; Jacquelyn L. Gill, University of Maine; Robert Northington, University of Maine; Thomas Parr, University of Delaware