By Valerie Perini

In an era of vast changes to natural systems, the need to understand and predict human impacts has never been greater. Drawing on expertise in community and ecosystem ecology, MSC postdoctoral researcher Torrance Hanley has recently contributed a chapter to a new book entitled Trophic Ecology. The book, which Hanley co-edited, examines the interaction of bottom-up and top-down forces across a range of aquatic and terrestrial systems to identify key commonalities and differences between ecosystems and to facilitate cross-system comparison. The chapter explores important feedbacks between food web dynamics and global change, with a focus on both the top-down and bottom up impacts of human activities on trophic dynamics.

In the chapter, Hanley and her co-author compile evidence from many studies documenting both direct and indirect impacts of human activities on trophic interactions, including species invasions, altered nutrient dynamics, climate change, loss of top predators, and global biodiversity decline. The researchers also detail how changes in trophic structure alter population dynamics and overall community composition and ecosystem function, stressing the importance of analyzing these interactions across multiple systems, and temporal and spatial scales. This work highlights the importance of taking a synergistic approach to understanding human impacts on natural systems and considering the interactive effects of multiple environmental drivers to guide future research and conservation efforts.