Barents Sea Food web, meta-traits and Rcode for predicting feeding interactions ...

• Main Authors: Pecuchet, Laurene, Blanchet, Marie-Anne, Frainer, André, Husson, Bérengère, Jørgensen, Lis Lindal, Kortsch, Susanne, Primicerio, Raul
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2020
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Food web; predictions; trait; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.924367; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.924367

Species are redistributing globally in response to climate warming, impacting ecosystem functions and services. In the Barents Sea, poleward expansion of boreal species and a decreased abundance of Arctic species are causing a rapid borealization of the Arctic communities. This borealization might have profound consequences on the Arctic food web by creating novel feeding interactions between previously non co‐occurring species. An early identification of new feeding links is crucial to predict their ecological impact. However, detection by traditional approaches, including stomach content and isotope analyses, although fundamental, cannot cope with the speed of change observed in the region, nor with the urgency of understanding the consequences of species redistribution for the marine ecosystem. In this study, we used an extensive food web (metaweb) with nearly 2,500 documented feeding links between 239 taxa coupled with a trait data set to predict novel feeding interactions and to quantify their potential ...