Aquatic-terrestrial subsidies

Aquatic-terrestrial subsidies are a type of ecological resource subsidy in which materials, energy, and nutrients are transferred from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic-terrestrial subsidies are typically caused by organism movement across the aquatic-terrestrial boundary. For example, emerging aquatic insects develop in streams and lakes before emerging as winged terrestrial adults.^[1] After emerging, many adult aquatic insects are eaten by terrestrial animals like spiders, birds, bats, and lizards.^[2] Because the adult aquatic insects are produced in a different ecosystem than their predators (aquatic versus terrestrial), movement of aquatic insects to terrestrial food webs is termed a subsidy.

See also

• Ecology portal
• Environment portal

References

1. Nakano, S., & Murakami, M. (2001). Reciprocal subsidies: dynamic interdependence between terrestrial and aquatic food webs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(1), 166-170.
2. Baxter, C. V., Fausch, K. D., & Carl Saunders, W. (2005). Tangled webs: reciprocal flows of invertebrate prey link streams and riparian zones. Freshwater Biology, 50(2), 201-220.