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Lake temperature and nutrient levels interact to reorganize ecological networks

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Causal links between plankton taxa were inferred using long-term data from ten Swiss lakes, revealing the effect of warming and nutrient levels on entire ecological networks. The resulting model suggests that warming generally reduces the number of network interactions and alters which taxa control the food webs.

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Fig. 1: A conceptual model of a plankton network.

References

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This is a summary of: Merz, E. et al. Disruption of ecological networks in lakes by climate change and nutrient fluctuations. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01615-6 (2023).

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Lake temperature and nutrient levels interact to reorganize ecological networks. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 320–321 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01623-6

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