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Dryad

Data from: Consumer trait responses track change in resource supply along replicated thermal gradients

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Dec 17, 2021 version files 169.21 KB

Abstract

Temperature rise may alter consumer diets through increased metabolic demand and altered resource availability. However, current theories assessing dietary shifts with warming do not account for change in resource availability. It is unknown whether consumers will increase consumption rates or consume different resources to meet increased energy requirements and whether dietary change will lead to associated variation in morphology and nutrient utilisation. Here, we used populations of Gambusia affinis across parallel thermal gradients in New Zealand and California to understand the influence of temperature on diets, morphology, and stoichiometric phenotypes. Our results show that with increasing temperature in New Zealand, mosquitofish consumed more plant material, whereas, in California, mosquitofish shifted towards increased consumption of invertebrate prey. In both regions, populations with plant-based diets had fuller guts, longer gut length to body length ratios, more dorsally orientated mouths, and reduced body elemental %C and N/P. Together, our results show multiple pathways by which consumers may alter their feeding patterns with rising temperatures, and they suggest that warming-induced changes to resource availability may be the principal determinant of which pathway is taken.