Tanguy Daufresne

ECOLOGICAL STOICHIOMETRY, PRIMARY PRODUCER-DECOMPOSER INTERACTIONS, AND ECOSYSTEM PERSISTENCE

Primary producers and decomposers—the two most important groups for the functioning of ecosystems—have complex, indirect interactions. They are indirect mutualists through nutrient cycling, but also competitors for inorganic nutrients due to stoichiometric constraints in decomposers. We examine the conditions under which they are able to coexist, and hence ecosystems are able to persist, using a stoichiometrically explicit minimum model for an ecosystem. The model takes into account the coupling of carbon and a nutrient in the biomass and detritus, the nutrient limitation and the energy-providing role of primary producers, the recycling role of decomposers, and the stoichiometric constraints leading to indirect competition for the nutrient. The model shows that two conditions must be met to ensure coexistence of primary producers and decomposers: (1) decomposers must be limited by the carbon provided by plant detritus, and (2) the difference between the carbon : nutrient ratios of primary producers and de...

Relationships beetween the regional distribution of carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) and the abundance of their potential prey

Abstract We studied regional variation in abundance of carabid beetles in relation to both abiotic factors and prey availability in 19 forest sites, with a focus on the relationship between the distributions of the carabid beetle Abax ater Villers and its prey, earthworms. No significant correlation was found between the abundance of Abax ater and any of the abiotic factors considered. On the other had, litter thickness was strongly associated with the composition and structure of the whole carabid community: an increase in litter thickness was accompanied by a decrease in both total carabid abundance and carabid species richnes, and by an increase in the proportion of forest species. The relationship between the regional distributions of abundance of carabid beetles and their potential prev was very different for soil-dwelling and litter-dwelling prey. There was a significant pattern of association between low soil prey abundance and low carabid abundance, which suggests that carabid abundance is partly controlled by prey numbers in the soil. On the other hand, there was a significant pattern of association between high prey density per volume of litter and low Abax ater abundance, thus showing a negative relationship between the abundance of this species and prey density in the litter. We propose two complementary hypotheses to explain this pattern: prey depletion by predation in the litter, and biased sampling of carabids due to differential mobility. The prey depletion hypothesis considers that soil acts as a refuge from predation, so that prey numbers in the soil control carabid abundance, while dominant carabids in turn deplete prey and control their abundance in the litter. This hypothesis suggests a complex relationship between the abundances of carabids and their prey.

Landscape fragmentation generates spatial variation of diet composition and quality in a generalist herbivore

Forest fragmentation may benefit generalist herbivores by increasing access to various substitutable food resources, with potential consequences for their population dynamics. We studied a European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) population living in an agricultural mosaic of forest, woodlots, meadows and cultivated crops. We tested whether diet composition and quality varied spatially across the landscape using botanical analyses of rumen contents and chemical analyses of the plants consumed in relation to landscape metrics. In summer and non-mast winters, roe deer ate more cultivated seeds and less native forest browse with increasing availability of crops in the local landscape. This spatial variation resulted in contrasting diet quality, with more cell content and lower lignin and hemicellulose content (high quality) for individuals living in more open habitats. The pattern was less marked in the other seasons when diet composition, but not diet quality, was only weakly related to landscape structure. In mast autumns and winters, the consumption of acorns across the entire landscape resulted in a low level of differentiation in diet composition and quality. Our results reflect the ability of generalist species, such as roe deer, to adapt to the fragmentation of their forest habitat by exhibiting a plastic feeding behavior, enabling them to use supplementary resources available in the agricultural matrix. This flexibility confers nutritional advantages to individuals with access to cultivated fields when their native food resources are depleted or decline in quality (e.g. during non-mast years) and may explain local heterogeneities in individual phenotypic quality.

Unifying sources and sinks in ecology and Earth sciences

The paired source and sink concepts are used increasingly in ecology and Earth sciences, but they have evolved in divergent directions, hampering communication across disciplines. We propose a conceptual framework that unifies existing definitions, and review their most significant consequences for the various disciplines. A general definition of the source and sink concepts that transcends disciplines is based on net flows between the components of a system: a source is a subsystem that is a net exporter of some living or non‐living entities of interest, and a sink is a net importer of these entities. Sources and sinks can further be classified as conditional and unconditional, depending on the intrinsic propensity of subsystems to either produce (source) or absorb (sink) a surplus of these entities under some (conditional) or all (unconditional) conditions. The distinction between conditional and unconditional sources and sinks, however, is strongly context dependent. Sources can turn into sinks, and vice versa, when the context is changed, when systems are subject to temporal fluctuations or evolution, or when they are considered at different spatial and temporal scales. The conservation of ecosystem services requires careful consideration of the source−sink dynamics of multiple ecosystem components. Our synthesis shows that source−sink dynamics has profound consequences for our ability to understand, predict, and manage species and ecosystems in heterogeneous landscapes.

A typical browser, the roe deer, may consume substantial quantities of grasses in open landscapes

In open landscapes, grass leaves provide an abundant resource for ruminants, with potentially high nutritional value. However, their extensive digestion requires a long fermentation time, achieved through large rumen and the stratification of the rumen content. Due to anatomical and physiological differences, ruminants differ in their ability to process grass leaves. Particularly, the small roe deer, with its viscous saliva and unstratified rumen content, is generally classified as a strict browser. We hypothesised that roe deer may be able to use grass leaves in some circumstances, notably when the availability of other resources declines and when the quality of grass leaves is high. We expected that (1) grass leave consumption should be higher in open landscapes than in forest habitat because grasses are more widely available and more nutritious in open landscapes and (2) grass leave consumption should increase in winter when the availability of other resources declines. We assessed grass consumption by microscopic analysis of roe deer faecal pellets collected monthly both in forest habitat and in the surrounding open landscape. We found that both the occurrence and the proportion of grass leaves in the faeces were higher in the open landscape (predicted mean proportion 0.31) than in the forest (predicted mean proportion 0.05). In addition, the proportion of grass leaves in the faeces was higher in winter and lower in spring in both forest and open landscape. We suggest that roe deer are able to use grass leaves with unusually high nutritional quality in winter in this mild climate area. This involves a certain level of digestive plasticity to efficiently digest high quality grasses and may confer nutritional benefit to individuals feeding in an open landscape.

Diet quality and immunocompetence influence parasite load of roe deer in a fragmented landscape

The influence of landscape structure and host diet on parasite load of wildlife is still largely unknown. We studied a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) population in a fragmented agricultural landscape in southern France to explore the relationship of gastrointestinal nematode load with spleen mass (to index immunocompetence), faecal nitrogen (to index diet quality), landscape structure and age of 33 hunt-harvested roe deer. Gastrointestinal worm counts were negatively related to faecal nitrogen and spleen mass, explaining respectively 24.7% and 9.2% of the observed variability in parasite load. Landscape structure did not appear to have a direct influence on gastrointestinal worm counts, but since animals from more open areas have a diet that is richer in nitrogen, its influence may be indirect. In conclusion, in the study area, the colonisation of the agricultural landscape does not seem to have increased the risk of gastrointestinal nematode parasitism for roe deer, possibly because access to high-quality food enhances immunocompetence.

Biological Phosphorus Cycling in Grasslands: Interactions with Nitrogen

The complexity of soil–plant–animal interactions in grassland ecosystems highlights the importance of studying biological phosphorus (P) cycling in relation with that of nitrogen (N). Several case studies employing original approaches developed by both agronomists and ecologists are presented. The nutrition index approach, based on nutrient dilution in the process of biomass accumulation, is used in order to evaluate the relative response of grassland to P in relation to changes in nutritional status (N and P). In parallel, the functional characterization of grassland vegetation from plant functional type (PFT) definition is presented. It relies on the fact that grassland communities may contain a wide diversity of species that influence nutrient biological cycling and regulate the biogeochemical cycle of nutrients. Finally, the effect of grazing herbivores on the biogeochemical cycle of major elements is examined to give a better insight into the complexity of the processes associated with N and P cycles in grazed grasslands.

Size evolution in microorganisms masks trade-offs predicted by the growth rate hypothesis

Adaptation to local resource availability depends on responses in growth rate and nutrient acquisition. The growth rate hypothesis (GRH) suggests that growing fast should impair competitive abilities for phosphorus and nitrogen due to high demand for biosynthesis. However, in microorganisms, size influences both growth and uptake rates, which may mask trade-offs and instead generate a positive relationship between these traits (size hypothesis, SH). Here, we evolved a gradient of maximum growth rate (μmax) from a single bacterium ancestor to test the relationship among μmax, competitive ability for nutrients and cell size, while controlling for evolutionary history. We found a strong positive correlation between μmax and competitive ability for phosphorus, associated with a trade-off between μmax and cell size: strains selected for high μmax were smaller and better competitors for phosphorus. Our results strongly support the SH, while the trade-offs expected under GRH were not apparent. Beyond plasticity, unicellular populations can respond rapidly to selection pressure through joint evolution of their size and maximum growth rate. Our study stresses that physiological links between these traits tightly shape the evolution of competitive strategies.

Facilitation- vs. competition-driven succession: the key role of resource-ratio

Symbiotic nitrogen (N)-fixing plants are abundant during primary succession, as typical bedrocks lack available N. In turn, fixed N accumulates in soils through biomass turnover and recycling, favouring more nitrophilous organisms. Yet, it is unclear how this facilitation mechanism interacts with competition for other limiting nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and how this affects succession. Here, we introduce a resource-explicit, community assembly model of N-fixing species and analyze successional trajectories along resource availability gradients using contemporary niche theory. We show that facilitation-driven succession occurs under low N and high enough P availabilities, and is characterised by autogenic ecosystem development and relatively ordered trajectories. We show that late facilitation-driven succession is sensitive to catastrophic shifts, highlighting the need to invoke other mechanisms to explain ecosystem stability near the climax. Put together with competition-driven succession, these results lead to an enriched version of Tilmans resource-ratio theory of succession.

Plant Strategies along Resource Gradients

Plants present a variety of defensive strategies against herbivores, broadly classified into tolerance and resistance. Since resource availability can also limit plant growth, we expect plant allocation to resource acquisition and defense to vary along resource gradients. Yet, the conditions under which one defensive strategy is favored over the other are unclear. Here, we use an eco-evolutionary model to investigate plant adaptive allocation to resource acquisition, tolerance, and resistance along a resource gradient in a simple food web module inspired by plankton communities where plants compete for a single resource and are grazed on by a shared herbivore. We show that undefended, acquisition-specialist strategies dominate under low resource supplies. Conversely, high resource supplies, which lead to high herbivore abundance because of trophic transfers, result in either the dominance of very resistant strategies or coexistence between a completely resistant strategy and a fast-growing, tolerant one. We also explore the consequences of this adaptive allocation on species biomasses. Finally, we compare our predictions to a more traditional, density-independent optimization model. We show that density dependence mediated by resources and herbivores is the cause of the increase in plant resistance along the resource gradient, as the optimization model would instead have favored tolerance.