The role of animals in modulating nutrient cycling [hereafter, consumer‐driven nutrient dynamics (CND)] has been accepted as an important influence on both community structure and ecosystem function in aquatic systems. Yet there is great variability in the influence of CND across species and ecosystems, and the causes of this variation are not well understood. Here, we review and synthesize the mechanisms behind CND in fresh waters. We reviewed 131 articles on CND published between 1973 and 1 June 2015. The rate of new publications in CND has increased from 1.4 papers per year during 1973–2002 to 7.3 per year during 2003–2015. The majority of investigations are in North America with many concentrating on fish. More recent studies have focused on animal‐mediated nutrient excretion rates relative to nutrient demand and indirect impacts (e.g. decomposition). We identified several mechanisms that influence CND across levels of biological organization. Factors affecting the stoichiometric plasticity of consumers, including body size, feeding history and ontogeny, play an important role in determining the impact of individual consumers on nutrient dynamics and underlie the stoichiometry of CND across time and space. The abiotic characteristics of an ecosystem affect the net impact of consumers on ecosystem processes by influencing consumer metabolic processes (e.g. consumption and excretion/egestion rates), non‐CND supply of nutrients and ecosystem nutrient demand. Furthermore, the transformation and transport of elements by populations and communities of consumers also influences the flow of energy and nutrients across ecosystem boundaries. This review highlights that shifts in community composition or biomass of consumers and eco‐evolutionary underpinnings can have strong effects on the functional role of consumers in ecosystem processes, yet these are relatively unexplored aspects of CND. Future research should evaluate the value of using species traits and abiotic conditions to predict and understand the effects of consumers on ecosystem‐level nutrient dynamics across temporal and spatial scales. Moreover, new work in CND should strive to integrate knowledge from disparate fields of ecology and environmental science, such as physiology and ecosystem ecology, to develop a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of the functional role of consumers. Comparative and experimental studies that develop testable hypotheses to challenge the current assumptions of CND, including consumer stoichiometric homeostasis, are needed to assess the significance of CND among species and across freshwater ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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淡水生态系统中消费者驱动的营养动态：从个体到生态系统

动物在调节养分循环中的作用 [以下称为消费者驱动的养分动态 (CND)] 已被公认为对水生系统群落结构和生态系统功能的重要影响。然而，CND 对物种和生态系统的影响存在很大差异，这种差异的原因尚不清楚。在这里，我们回顾并综合了淡水中 CND 背后的机制。我们回顾了 1973 年至 2015 年 6 月 1 日期间发表的 131 篇关于 CND 的文章。 CND 的新发表率从 1973-2002 年期间的每年 1.4 篇增加到 2003-2015 年期间的每年 7.3 篇。大多数调查在北美进行，其中许多集中在鱼类上。最近的研究侧重于相对于营养需求和间接影响的动物介导的营养排泄率（例如 分解）。我们确定了几种影响 CND 跨生物组织水平的机制。影响消费者化学计量可塑性的因素，包括体型、喂养历史和个体发育，在确定个体消费者对营养动态的影响方面起着重要作用，并且是 CND 跨时间和空间的化学计量的基础。生态系统的非生物特征通过影响消费者代谢过程（例如消耗和排泄/消化率）、非 CND 养分供应和生态系统养分需求来影响消费者对生态系统过程的净影响。此外，人口和消费者社区对元素的转化和运输也会影响能量和营养物质跨生态系统边界的流动。本综述强调，社区组成或消费者生物量和生态进化基础的变化可能对消费者在生态系统过程中的功能作用产生强烈影响，但这些是 CND 相对未开发的方面。未来的研究应该评估使用物种特征和非生物条件来预测和理解消费者对跨时空尺度的生态系统水平养分动态的影响的价值。此外，CND 的新工作应努力整合生态学和环境科学不同领域的知识，如生理学和生态系统生态学，以全面和机械地理解消费者的功能作用。比较和实验研究，开发可测试的假设来挑战 CND 的当前假设，