Abstract
The objective of our study was to analyze the effects of temperature on the population dynamics of a three-species food web consisting of two prey bacteria (Pedobacter sp. and Acinetobacter johnsonii) and a protozoan predator (Tetrahymena pyriformis) as model organisms. We assessed the effects of temperature on the growth rates of all three species with the objective of developing a model with four differential equations based on the experimental data. The following hypotheses were tested at a theoretical level: Firstly, temperature changes can affect the dynamic behavior of a system by temperature-dependent parameters and interactions and secondly, food web response to temperature cannot be derived from the single species temperature response. The main outcome of the study is that temperature changes affect the parameter range where coexistence is possible within all three species. This has significant consequences on our ideas regarding the evaluation of effects of global warming.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to H. A. (AR 288/14-1, 2). We would like to thank all collaborators in the frame of the priority program AQUASHIFT of the DFG, especially we would like to thank Ulrich Sommer, Thomas Petzoldt, Otto Richter, Klaus Jürgens and Markus Weitere for co-operation and two anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism.
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Monsonís Nomdedeu, M., Willen, C., Schieffer, A. et al. Temperature-dependent ranges of coexistence in a model of a two-prey-one-predator microbial food web. Mar Biol 159, 2423–2430 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1966-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1966-x