Trophic Cascade

When is a trophic cascade a trophic cascade?

What is a Trophic Cascade?

Few concepts in ecology have been so influential as that of the trophic cascade. Since the 1980s, the term has been a central or major theme of more than 2000 scientific articles. Despite this importance and widespread usage, basic questions remain about what constitutes a trophic cascade. Inconsistent usage of language impedes scientific progress and the utility of scientific concepts in manag...

Trophic cascade alters ecosystem carbon exchange.

Trophic cascades--the indirect effects of carnivores on plants mediated by herbivores--are common across ecosystems, but their influence on biogeochemical cycles, particularly the terrestrial carbon cycle, are largely unexplored. Here, using a (13)C pulse-chase experiment, we demonstrate how trophic structure influences ecosystem carbon dynamics in a meadow system. By manipulating the presence ...

Trophic cascade facilitates coral recruitment in a marine reserve.

Reduced fishing pressure and weak predator-prey interactions within marine reserves can create trophic cascades that increase the number of grazing fishes and reduce the coverage of macroalgae on coral reefs. Here, we show that the impacts of reserves extend beyond trophic cascades and enhance the process of coral recruitment. Increased fish grazing, primarily driven by reduced fishing, was str...

A meta-analysis of the freshwater trophic cascade.

The generality of the trophic cascade has been an intensely debated topic among ecologists. We conducted a meta-analysis of 54 separate enclosure and pond experiments that measured the response of the zooplankton and phytoplankton to zooplanktivorous fish treatments. These results provide unequivocal support for the trophic cascade hypothesis in freshwater food webs. Zooplanktivorous fish treat...