Environmental heterogeneity plays a fundamental role in driving species distributions by, for one, fostering niche dimensionality. Within lake ecosystems, species distributions and concordance patterns are driven by both local and regional heterogeneity, though their relative importance across trophic levels has rarely been explored. We developed a statistical framework to compare responses of taxa from different trophic levels to abiotic factors and determine how this affected multi‐trophic network structures. In particular, we used multi‐species concordance modelling (concordance analysis and RV coefficient) to determine species associations and correlations within and among three trophic levels (phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish communities sampled across 49 southern Québec lakes, covering eight hydrological regions). We then used multiple factor analysis, latent variable modelling and local contributions of sites to beta diversity to assess the relative importance of major environmental gradients in structuring species co‐responses and species interaction turnover across the landscape. Our analyses confirmed that concordant species within each trophic level varied jointly or segregated into different pelagic food webs in Québec lakes where important acidification and eutrophication took place. Some keynote species were indicators of different food web compartments and distinguished groups of lakes along multiple environmental niche dimensions. Among the three trophic levels examined, zooplankton depicted the highest proportion of species concordance and appeared to act as a trophic linkage between phytoplankton and fish. Ultimately, the losses or gains in species richness and species interactions were strongly driven by environmental gradients. This study provides for the first time a combined analysis of the effects of environmental heterogeneity on ecological communities belonging to three trophic levels sampled near simultaneously across an 800 km broad lacustrine landscape. The new framework developed in this study has a great potential to better understand the complex response of aquatic ecosystems in a world increasingly affected by multiple, cumulative stressors.

中文翻译：

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魁北克湖中上层食物网的大规模多营养共响应模型和环境控制

一方面，环境异质性在促进物种分布方面起着基础性作用，即促进了利基维数。在湖泊生态系统中，物种分布和一致性模式受本地和区域异质性的驱动，尽管很少探讨它们在营养级别上的相对重要性。我们开发了一个统计框架，以比较不同营养级别的分类单元对非生物因子的响应，并确定这如何影响多营养网络结构。特别是，我们使用了多物种一致性模型（一致性分析和RV系数）来确定三个营养级别（浮游植物，浮游动物和鱼类群落，遍及魁北克南部49个湖，覆盖了八个水文区域）的三个营养级别之间及其之间的物种关联和相关性。然后，我们使用多因素分析，潜在变量建模和站点对β多样性的局部贡献来评估主要环境梯度在构建物种共反应和整个景观中物种相互作用的结构中的相对重要性。我们的分析证实，在营养级别较高的魁北克湖中，各个营养级的一致物种共同变化或分离成不同的中上层食物网，在那里发生了重要的酸化作用和富营养化。一些基调物种是沿着多个环境生态位维度的不同食物网分区和不同湖泊群的指标。在所研究的三个营养级别中，浮游动物描绘出物种一致性最高的部分，并且似乎是浮游植物与鱼类之间的营养联系。最终，物种丰富度和物种相互作用的损失或收益是由环境梯度强烈驱动的。这项研究首次提供了对环境异质性对生态群落的影响的综合分析，该生态群落属于在800公里宽的湖泊景观附近同时进行采样的三个营养级别。在这项研究中开发的新框架具有巨大的潜力，可以更好地了解在一个日益受到多种累积压力源影响的世界中水生生态系统的复杂反应。这项研究首次提供了对环境异质性对生态群落的影响的综合分析，该生态群落属于在800公里宽的湖泊景观附近同时进行采样的三个营养级别。在这项研究中开发的新框架具有巨大的潜力，可以更好地了解在日益受到多种累积压力源影响的世界中水生生态系统的复杂反应。这项研究首次提供了对环境异质性对生态群落的影响的综合分析，该生态群落属于在800公里宽的湖泊景观附近同时进行采样的三个营养级别。在这项研究中开发的新框架具有巨大的潜力，可以更好地了解在日益受到多种累积压力源影响的世界中水生生态系统的复杂反应。