Climate change impacts on ecological networks and ecosystem functioning

Jose Montoya

Station d’Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale UMR5321, Moulis,josemaria.montoyateran@ecoex‐moulis.cnrs.fr

(talk in English)

Climate change is generating novel communities composed of new combinations of species. These may result from different degrees of species adaptations to changing local biotic and abiotic conditions, and from differential range shifts of species. With the increasing number of studies addressing the ecological impacts of climate change, a major challenge ahead is to characterize whether universal ecological responses exist at the community and ecosystem level, and also across different spatial scales. Here I will try to identify both universalities and major uncertainties on the impacts of climate change on the structure, dynamics and functioning of both local communities and larger meta-ecosystems connected by species dispersal. I will illustrate these general patterns and major uncertainties with specific study systems, including freshwater mesocosm experiments and empirical vertebrate food webs in mountain systems. I will emphasize the role of the spatial scale on the observed and predicted effect, and suggest the use of a meta-ecosystem theoretical framework to advance our understanding and predictability on the higher-level consequences of climate change across spatial scales.

Recent publications:

Montoya JM, Raffaelli D (2010) Climate change, biotic interactions and ecosystem services. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 365, 2013-2018.

Lurgi et al. (2012) Novel communities from climate change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 367, 2913–2922.

Yvon-Durocher G, et al. (2015) Five Years of Experimental Warming Increases the Biodiversity and Productivity of Phytoplankton. PLoS Biol 13(12): e1002324.