Species richness changes across two trophic levels simultaneously affect prey and consumer biomass

  1. L. Gamfeldt1,*,
  2. H. Hillebrand2,
  3. P. R. Jonsson1

Article first published online: 28 APR 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00765.x

Issue

Ecology Letters

Ecology Letters

Volume 8, Issue 7, pages 696–703, July 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Gamfeldt, L., Hillebrand, H. and Jonsson, P. R. (2005), Species richness changes across two trophic levels simultaneously affect prey and consumer biomass. Ecology Letters, 8: 696–703. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00765.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Department of Marine Ecology, Göteborg University, SE-452 96 Strömstad, Sweden

  2. 2

    Institute for Botany, Aquatic Ecology, University of Cologne, Gyrhofstrasse 15, D-50931 Köln, Germany

*E-mail: lars.gamfeldt@tmbl.gu.se

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 28 APR 2005
  2. Article first published online: 28 APR 2005
  3. Editor: Jonathan Chase Manuscript received 17 January 2005 First decision made 18 February 2005 Manuscript accepted 21 March 2005

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Keywords:

  • Biodiversity;
  • consumers;
  • ecosystem functioning;
  • energy transfer;
  • multitrophic;
  • prey;
  • primary production;
  • secondary production;
  • trophic level

Abstract

Increasing species richness of primary producers or consumers is proposed to increase primary and secondary production; however, the consequences of biodiversity change across trophic levels has been poorly investigated. We used a controlled marine microbial system to investigate the effects of simultaneous changes in biodiversity of consumer and prey species. Consumer (ciliates) and prey (algae) richness and identity were manipulated independently in a complete factorial design. The results showed clear biodiversity effects of both consumers and prey, within and across trophic levels. We found reduced prey and increased consumer biomass with increased consumer richness, with the most diverse prey assemblage supporting the highest biomass of consumers at the highest richness of consumers. Increasing prey richness did not increase resistance to consumption when consumers were present. Instead, our results indicated enhanced energy transfer with simultaneous increasing richness of consumers and prey.

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