Authors
Daniel Nelson, Jonathan P Benstead, Alexander D Huryn, Wyatt F Cross, James M Hood, Philip W Johnson, James R Junker, Gísli M Gíslason, Jón S Ólafsson
Publication date
2017/7
Journal
Ecology
Volume
98
Issue
7
Pages
1797-1806
Description
A central question at the interface of food‐web and climate change research is how secondary production, or the formation of heterotroph biomass over time, will respond to rising temperatures. The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) hypothesizes the temperature‐invariance of secondary production, driven by matched and opposed forces that reduce biomass of heterotrophs while increasing their biomass turnover rate (production : biomass, or P:B) with warming. To test this prediction at the whole community level, we used a geothermal heat exchanger to experimentally warm a stream in southwest Iceland by 3.8°C for two years. We quantified invertebrate community biomass, production, and P : B in the experimental stream and a reference stream for one year prior to warming and two years during warming. As predicted, warming had a neutral effect on community production, but this result was not driven by …
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