Resource flow networks: v1 code release

Archive of code and data for Peller et al. 2024 AmNat.

Abstract:

Non-living resources frequently flow across ecosystem boundaries, which can yield networks of spatially-coupled ecosystems. Yet, the significance of resource flows for ecosystem function has predominantly been understood by studying two or a few coupled ecosystems, overlooking the broader resource flow network and its spatial structure. Here, we investigate how the spatial structure of larger resource flow networks influences ecosystem function at meta-ecosystem scales by analyzing meta-ecosystem models with homogeneously versus heterogeneously distributed resource flow networks, but otherwise identical characteristics. We show meta-ecosystem function can differ strongly between meta-ecosystems with contrasting resource flow networks. Differences in function generally arise through the scaling-up of nonlinear local processes interacting with spatial variation in local dynamics, the latter of which is influenced by network structure. However, we find that neither network structure guarantees the greatest meta-ecosystem function. Rather, biotic (organism traits) and abiotic (resource flow rates) properties interact with network structure to determine which yields greater meta-ecosystem function. Our findings suggest the spatial structure of resource flow networks coupling ecosystems can be a driver of ecosystem function at landscape scales. Further, our study demonstrates how modifications to the structural, biotic, or abiotic properties of meta-ecosystem networks can have non-trivial, large-scale effects on ecosystem function.