Humans simplified trophic structures in island lake ecosystems

Abstract

Lakes on oceanic islands are exceptionally vulnerable ecosystems and serve as natural archives of long-term environmental change, yet long-term reconstructions spanning multiple trophic levels remain rare. We reconstruct 2,000 years of ecological change across nine Azorean lakes by analysing sediment records of community composition and trophic-guild richness for aquatic producers and consumers, interpreted alongside catchment vegetation and hydroclimatic variability. We identified an archipelago-wide trajectory of trophic restructuring and simplification, consistent with a shift toward plankton-dominated structures. Widespread catchment vegetation change was followed by major reorganisation of aquatic compositional turnover, with producers typically responding earlier than consumers. This multi-trophic, multi-lake perspective reveals that human land use initiated a long-term trajectory of ecosystem restructuring, with the initial reorganisation phase occurring between approximately 1050 and 1450 CE. Land-use effects persisted thereafter, while climatic variability increasingly interacted with already modified catchments after approximately 1600 CE. These findings indicate that ecological baselines are not fixed states but dynamic outcomes of long-term interactions among humans, climate, and ecosystem resilience.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{matias2026humans,
  title = {{Humans simplified trophic structures in island lake ecosystems}},
  author = {Miguel Graca Matias and Vítor Gonçalves and Sergi Pla-Rabes and Armand Hernández and Manuel Mendoza and Miguel B. Araújo and Jacqueline van Leeuwen and Sandra Nogué and Nora Richter and Martin Souto and Ricardo Trigo and Roberto Bao and Alberto Sáez and Santiago Giralt and Pedro M. Raposeiro},
  howpublished = {EcoEvoRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.32942/x23390},
  url = {https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/14733/},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Humans simplified trophic structures in island lake ecosystems
AU  - Miguel Graca Matias
AU  - Vítor Gonçalves
AU  - Sergi Pla-Rabes
AU  - Armand Hernández
AU  - Manuel Mendoza
AU  - Miguel B. Araújo
AU  - Jacqueline van Leeuwen
AU  - Sandra Nogué
AU  - Nora Richter
AU  - Martin Souto
AU  - Ricardo Trigo
AU  - Roberto Bao
AU  - Alberto Sáez
AU  - Santiago Giralt
AU  - Pedro M. Raposeiro
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/01
PB  - EcoEvoRxiv
DO  - 10.32942/x23390
UR  - https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/14733/
AB  - Lakes on oceanic islands are exceptionally vulnerable ecosystems and serve as natural archives of long-term environmental change, yet long-term reconstructions spanning multiple trophic levels remain rare. We reconstruct 2,000 years of ecological change across nine Azorean lakes by analysing sediment records of community composition and trophic-guild richness for aquatic producers and consumers, interpreted alongside catchment vegetation and hydroclimatic variability. We identified an archipelago-wide trajectory of trophic restructuring and simplification, consistent with a shift toward plankton-dominated structures. Widespread catchment vegetation change was followed by major reorganisation of aquatic compositional turnover, with producers typically responding earlier than consumers. This multi-trophic, multi-lake perspective reveals that human land use initiated a long-term trajectory of ecosystem restructuring, with the initial reorganisation phase occurring between approximately 1050 and 1450 CE. Land-use effects persisted thereafter, while climatic variability increasingly interacted with already modified catchments after approximately 1600 CE. These findings indicate that ecological baselines are not fixed states but dynamic outcomes of long-term interactions among humans, climate, and ecosystem resilience.
ER  -

Abstract

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