Under changing environmental conditions, intraspecific variation can potentially rescue populations from extinction. There are two principal sources of variation that may ultimately lead to population rescue: genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity. We compared the potential for evolutionary rescue (through genetic diversity) and plastic rescue (through phenotypic plasticity) by analysing t...

a r t i c l e i n f o The trophic structure of the German Bight soft-bottom benthic community was evaluated for potential changes after cessation of bottom trawling. Species were collected with van-Veen grabs and beam trawls. Trophic position (i.e. nitrogen stable isotope ratios, δ 15 N) and energy flow (i.e. species metabolism approximated by body mass scaled abundance) of dominant species wer...

It is predicted that warmer conditions should lead to a loss of trophic levels, as larger bodied consumers, which occupy higher experience metabolic costs at high temperature. Yet, it unclear whether this prediction consistent with the effect warming on structure natural systems. Furthermore, effects temperature species level, arise through change in composition, may differ from those populatio...

Anthropogenic disturbances intertwined with climatic changes can have a large impact on the upper trophic levels of marine ecosystems, which may cascade down the food web. So far it has been difficult to demonstrate multi-level trophic cascades in pelagic marine environments. Using field data collected during a 33-year period, we show for the first time a four-level community-wide trophic casca...

Sheep predation by coyotes (Canis latrans) is a major problem for sheep producers in North America. Solutions are facilitated by a basic understanding of the trophic dynamic context of this problem, one that likely varies geographically in important qualitative ways. Little is known about vertebrate trophic dynamics in Mediterranean ecosystems, where prey are diverse and their biomass is strong...

Climate change can drive shifts in the seasonality of marine productivity, with consequences for food web. However, these alterations phytoplankton bloom phenology (initiation and peak timing), underlying drivers, are not well understood. Here, using a 30-member Large Ensemble climate projections, we show earlier initiation most ocean regions, yet changes timing vary widely by region. Shifts bo...

We conducted stable 13C and 15N analysis on white shark vertebrae and demonstrated that incremental analysis of isotopes along the radius of a vertebral centrum produces a chronological record of dietary information, allowing for reconstruction of an individual's trophic history. Isotopic data showed significant enrichments in 15N with increasing sampling distance from the centrum center, indic...