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Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities

Thomas Merckx, Caroline Souffreau, Aurelien Kaiser, Lisa F Baardsen, Thierry Backeljau, Dries Bonte (UGent) , Kristien I Brans, Marie Cours, Maxime Dahirel (UGent) , Nicolas Debortoli, et al.
(2018) NATURE. 558(7708). p.113-116
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Abstract
Body size is intrinsically linked to metabolic rate and life-history traits, and is a crucial determinant of food webs and community dynamics(1,2). The increased temperatures associated with the urban-heat-island effect result in increased metabolic costs and are expected to drive shifts to smaller body sizes'. Urban environments are, however, also characterized by substantial habitat fragmentation', which favours mobile species. Here, using a replicated, spatially nested sampling design across ten animal taxonomic groups, we show that urban communities generally consist of smaller species. In addition, although we show urban warming for three habitat types and associated reduced community-weighted mean body sizes for four taxa, three taxa display a shift to larger species along the urbanization gradients. Our results show that the general trend towards smaller-sized species is overruled by filtering for larger species when there is positive covariation between size and dispersal, a process that can mitigate the low connectivity of ecological resources in urban settings(5). We thus demonstrate that the urban-heat-island effect and urban habitat fragmentation are associated with contrasting community-level shifts in body size that critically depend on the association between body size and dispersal. Because body size determines the structure and dynamics of ecological networks(1), such shifts may affect urban ecosystem function.
Keywords
DISPERSAL ABILITY, METABOLIC THEORY, URBANIZATION, BIODIVERSITY, BUTTERFLIES, ORGANISMS, RESPONSES, ECOLOGY, MOTHS, PLANT

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MLA
Merckx, Thomas, et al. “Body-Size Shifts in Aquatic and Terrestrial Urban Communities.” NATURE, vol. 558, no. 7708, 2018, pp. 113–16, doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0140-0.
APA
Merckx, T., Souffreau, C., Kaiser, A., Baardsen, L. F., Backeljau, T., Bonte, D., … Van Dyck, H. (2018). Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities. NATURE, 558(7708), 113–116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0140-0
Chicago author-date
Merckx, Thomas, Caroline Souffreau, Aurelien Kaiser, Lisa F Baardsen, Thierry Backeljau, Dries Bonte, Kristien I Brans, et al. 2018. “Body-Size Shifts in Aquatic and Terrestrial Urban Communities.” NATURE 558 (7708): 113–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0140-0.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Merckx, Thomas, Caroline Souffreau, Aurelien Kaiser, Lisa F Baardsen, Thierry Backeljau, Dries Bonte, Kristien I Brans, Marie Cours, Maxime Dahirel, Nicolas Debortoli, Katrien De Wolf, Jessie MT Engelen, Diego Fontaneto, Andros T Gianuca, Lynn Govaert, Frederik Hendrickx, Janet Higuti, Luc Lens, Koenraad Martens, Hans Matheve, Erik Matthysen, Elena Piano, Rose Sablon, Isa Schon, Karine Van Doninck, Luc De Meester, and Hans Van Dyck. 2018. “Body-Size Shifts in Aquatic and Terrestrial Urban Communities.” NATURE 558 (7708): 113–116. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0140-0.
Vancouver
1.
Merckx T, Souffreau C, Kaiser A, Baardsen LF, Backeljau T, Bonte D, et al. Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities. NATURE. 2018;558(7708):113–6.
IEEE
[1]
T. Merckx et al., “Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities,” NATURE, vol. 558, no. 7708, pp. 113–116, 2018.
@article{8583561,
  abstract     = {{Body size is intrinsically linked to metabolic rate and life-history traits, and is a crucial determinant of food webs and community dynamics(1,2). The increased temperatures associated with the urban-heat-island effect result in increased metabolic costs and are expected to drive shifts to smaller body sizes'. Urban environments are, however, also characterized by substantial habitat fragmentation', which favours mobile species. Here, using a replicated, spatially nested sampling design across ten animal taxonomic groups, we show that urban communities generally consist of smaller species. In addition, although we show urban warming for three habitat types and associated reduced community-weighted mean body sizes for four taxa, three taxa display a shift to larger species along the urbanization gradients. Our results show that the general trend towards smaller-sized species is overruled by filtering for larger species when there is positive covariation between size and dispersal, a process that can mitigate the low connectivity of ecological resources in urban settings(5). We thus demonstrate that the urban-heat-island effect and urban habitat fragmentation are associated with contrasting community-level shifts in body size that critically depend on the association between body size and dispersal. Because body size determines the structure and dynamics of ecological networks(1), such shifts may affect urban ecosystem function.}},
  author       = {{Merckx, Thomas and Souffreau, Caroline and Kaiser, Aurelien and Baardsen, Lisa F and Backeljau, Thierry and Bonte, Dries and Brans, Kristien I and Cours, Marie and Dahirel, Maxime and Debortoli, Nicolas and De Wolf, Katrien and Engelen, Jessie MT and Fontaneto, Diego and Gianuca, Andros T and Govaert, Lynn and Hendrickx, Frederik and Higuti, Janet and Lens, Luc and Martens, Koenraad and Matheve, Hans and Matthysen, Erik and Piano, Elena and Sablon, Rose and Schon, Isa and Van Doninck, Karine and De Meester, Luc and Van Dyck, Hans}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  journal      = {{NATURE}},
  keywords     = {{DISPERSAL ABILITY,METABOLIC THEORY,URBANIZATION,BIODIVERSITY,BUTTERFLIES,ORGANISMS,RESPONSES,ECOLOGY,MOTHS,PLANT}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7708}},
  pages        = {{113--116}},
  title        = {{Body-size shifts in aquatic and terrestrial urban communities}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0140-0}},
  volume       = {{558}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}
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