Data from: Ecosystem age drives food web architecture of glacier retreat-formed fishless ponds in Greenland

Here, we studied the topology of food webs in newly created Arctic ponds
formed by deglaciation, analyzing potential drivers such as environmental
variables in 16 fishless ponds of contrasting ages (8 young, <50
years; 8 old, >150 years) located on the rapidly retreating west
coast of Greenland. Using gut content analysis of zooplankton and benthic
macroinvertebrates, we constructed food webs and examined how food web
metrics related to pond age and environmental variables. We also tested
for differences in beta diversity and nestedness of prey and consumers
between pond age classes. In young ponds, food items of zooplankton and
macroinvertebrates represented a subset of those found in old ponds. Food
webs in old ponds exhibited higher taxonomic richness, greater linkage
density, and lower connectance, indicating greater stability. Pond age was
the main explanatory factor for most food web metrics, followed by
productivity proxies (total nitrogen and phytoplankton chlorophyll-a).
While food webs in old ponds were not significantly associated with
environmental variables, in young ponds, connectance and trophic niche
overlap were significantly related to TN and Chl-a. These contrasting
patterns suggest that food web topology becomes more complex and less
dependent on environmental conditions as ponds age.