Image Credit: Maria Grist, CC BY-SA 4.0, Image Cropped
Platypus predation has differential effects on aquatic invertebrates in contrasting stream and lake ecosystems (2020) McLachlan-Troup, Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69957-1
The Crux
A trophic cascade occurs when a predator’s effects of its prey goes on to affect ‘lower’ levels of that ecosystem. A great example is the effect that sea otters have on kelp: the sea otters prey extensively on sea urchins, which in turn increases the populations of kelp, which the sea urchins prey on. While this is a result of direct predation by otters, often this can occur through a prey species changing its behaviour to avoid the predators.
Yet most ecosystems are more complex than a simple three-level trophic system. Cascades are therefore more likely to occur when the ecosystem is less complex, or when there are well-defined relationships between species, as a result of a predator having preferred prey species or only a few groups of species making up an ecosystem.
This week’s authors investigated how the platypus (our recently-found-to-be-fluorescent friend) influences the abundance and species richness of invertebrates across both rivers and lakes, and whether it’s capable of affecting an ecosystems algae and sediments as well.
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