Networks in aquatic communities collapse upon neonicotinoid-induced stress

Freshwater ecosystems worldwide are under pressure from neonicotinoid insecticides. While recognized that communities of species are responsible for ecosystem functioning, it remains unknown if neonicotinoid-induced community transformations negatively affect ecosystem functioning. Therefore, we employed an experimental approach with 36 naturally established freshwater ecosystems exposed to increasing field realistic concentrations of the neonicotinoid thiacloprid. Upon exposure, we found severe degradation of ecosystem functioning in the form of loss of organic matter consumption and dramatic shifts in primary productivity. This functional decline coincides with strongly eroded species co-occurrence networks to the point that these are indistinguishable from randomized assemblages of species. Together, these findings show how current environmental concentrations of a neonicotinoid can strongly disrupt freshwater ecosystem functioning via degradation of the invertebrate food web. Since ..., , , # Networks in aquatic communities collapse upon neonicotinoid-induced stress

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsnk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsnk)

The full datasets for water chemistry, biodiversity assessment, ecosystem functioning and accompanying codes for co-occurence network development are provided.

### Description of the data and file structure

Please see the Readme per excel file. The .csv files:

* 6.Rawdata.csv
* 7.Taxa_ClassFamiliesDisplayName.csv
* 8.Taxa_OrderingChordDiagram.csv
* 3.Random_Interactions_Option1_ZIPoverdisp_TotalAbundancePerTreatment_cor000-100_run6.csv
* 4.Random_Interactions_Option1_ZIPoverdisp_TotalAbundancePerTreatment_cor000-100_run6_Null.csv

are used to perform the modeling behind and making of Figure 3, 4, S5 and S6. Please note that the files  6.Rawdata.csv, 7.Taxa_ClassFamiliesDisplayName.csv, and 8.Taxa_OrderingChordDiagram.csv are simply reorded datafiles to assist with coding of the file 'Co-occurrence_Figure3_and_S5.R'. The actu...,