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<p>In response to warming temperatures, species worldwide are expanding their range poleward. As these species move into new ecosystems, they interact with novel organisms and may alter food webs. Climate-driven expansions can thus lead to cascading changes in ecological interaction webs, affecting ecosystem function and services. However, climate change rarely acts in isolation. Other anthropogenic stressors, such as pollution and habitat conversion, act in concurrence with the indirect, biotic effects of climate change. In this study, we employed gut content analysis to investigate dietary similarity between sheepshead (<i>Archosargus probatocephalus</i>) and an expanding tropical congener, sea bream (<i>A. rhomboidalis</i>), in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida (USA). We paired these data with long-term seagrass and macroalgae monitoring data to investigate the effects of a macrophyte cover gradient, as a proxy for eutrophication-driven die-offs, on the diets of these fish species. Sheepshead and sea bream had highly similar diets, dominated by macrophytes. Furthermore, tropical sea bream consumed more seagrass at locations with higher seagrass abundance compared to low seagrass abundance, whereas sheepshead consumed a similar amount across seagrass abundance levels. These results suggest sea bream have the potential to negatively affect future recoveries of currently declining sheepshead populations. Invasion of sea bream may also hinder recovery of imperiled seagrass populations by increasing grazing pressure in this eutrophic, light-limited system. We provide evidence that the indirect effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors can interact and influence ecological interactions.</p>

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Tropicalization Interacts with Other Human Stressors to Mediate the Diets of Expanding and Resident Herbivores

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年5月21日

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  • Adam R. Searles,
  • Douglas H. Adams,
  • Lauren M. Hall,
  • Lori J. Morris,
  • Charles W. Martin,
  • Laura K. Reynolds

摘要

In response to warming temperatures, species worldwide are expanding their range poleward. As these species move into new ecosystems, they interact with novel organisms and may alter food webs. Climate-driven expansions can thus lead to cascading changes in ecological interaction webs, affecting ecosystem function and services. However, climate change rarely acts in isolation. Other anthropogenic stressors, such as pollution and habitat conversion, act in concurrence with the indirect, biotic effects of climate change. In this study, we employed gut content analysis to investigate dietary similarity between sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus) and an expanding tropical congener, sea bream (A. rhomboidalis), in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida (USA). We paired these data with long-term seagrass and macroalgae monitoring data to investigate the effects of a macrophyte cover gradient, as a proxy for eutrophication-driven die-offs, on the diets of these fish species. Sheepshead and sea bream had highly similar diets, dominated by macrophytes. Furthermore, tropical sea bream consumed more seagrass at locations with higher seagrass abundance compared to low seagrass abundance, whereas sheepshead consumed a similar amount across seagrass abundance levels. These results suggest sea bream have the potential to negatively affect future recoveries of currently declining sheepshead populations. Invasion of sea bream may also hinder recovery of imperiled seagrass populations by increasing grazing pressure in this eutrophic, light-limited system. We provide evidence that the indirect effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors can interact and influence ecological interactions.