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Feeding in the frequency domain: coarser‐grained environments increase consumer sensitivity to resource variability, covariance and phase
Author(s) -
Koussoroplis ApostolosManuel,
Schälicke Svenja,
Raatz Michael,
Bach Moritz,
Wacker Alexander
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13267
Subject(s) - covariance , ecology , environmental science , econometrics , resource (disambiguation) , sensitivity (control systems) , biology , atmospheric sciences , biological system , computer science , statistics , mathematics , physics , computer network , electronic engineering , engineering
Abstract Theory predicts that resource variability hinders consumer performance. How this effect depends on the temporal structure of resource fluctuations encountered by individuals remains poorly understood. Combining modelling and growth experiments with Daphnia magna , we decompose the complexity of resource fluctuations and test the effect of resource variance, supply peak timing (i.e. phase) and co‐limiting resource covariance along a gradient from high to low frequencies reflecting fine‐ to coarse‐grained environments. Our results show that resource storage can buffer growth at high frequencies, but yields a sensitivity of growth to resource peak timing at lower ones. When two resources covary, negative covariance causes stronger growth depression at low frequencies. However, negative covariance might be beneficial at intermediate frequencies, an effect that can be explained by digestive acclimation. Our study provides a mechanistic basis for understanding how alterations of the environmental grain size affect consumers experiencing variable nutritional quality in nature.