Applying the ecology of aquatic–terrestrial linkages to freshwater and riparian management

Global stressors such as climate change, invasive species, urbanization, agricultural practices, and pollution can alter aquatic resource subsidies to terrestrial consumers. The effects of these stressors on timing, quality, and quantity of aquatic subsidies, such as adult aquatic insects, to birds, herpetofauna, and mammals, have large implications for wildlife management (Baxter et al. 2004, Saunders and Fausch 2007, Walters et al. 2008, Sullivan and Rodewald 2012, Morrissey et al. 2015, Kraus et al. 2016, Larsen et al. 2016, Sullivan et al. 2019). For example, insect-mediated contaminant transport from polluted rivers expose song bird nestlings and other protected birds to potentially toxic levels of persistent organic contaminants and pharmaceuticals (Walters et al. 2010, Richmond et al. 2018). Recent declines in aquatic insect production caused by pollution and changes in land use have been tied to global declines in terrestrial insectivores such as birds and bats (Hallmann et al. 2014, Morrissey et al. 2015, Raby et al. 2018). These natural-resource impacts from aquatic–terrestrial exposure and loss of resource subsidies are leading to changes in monitoring protocols and how management agencies evaluate the effectiveness of corrective remedies (Muehlbauer et al. 2019). For researchers interested in the application of resource subsidy research, a logical next step is to help practitioners anticipate effects of global stressors on aquatic-terrestrial linkages and incorporate these principles into decision making.