Arthropod Food Webs in the Foreland of a Retreating Greenland Glacier: Integrating Molecular Gut Content Analysis With Structural Equation Modelling

The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average since 1979, resulting in rapid glacier retreat and exposing new glacier forelands. These forelands offer unique experimental settings to explore how global warming impacts ecosystems, particularly for highly climate-sensitive arthropods. Understanding these impacts can help anticipate future biodiversity and ecosystem changes under ongoing warming scenarios. In this study, we integrate data on arthropod diversity from DNA gut content analysis—offering insight into predator diets—with quantitative measures of arthropod activity-density at a Greenland glacier foreland using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Our SEM analysis reveals both bottom-up and top-down controlled food chains. Bottom-up control, linked to sit-and-wait predator behavior, was prominent for spider and harvestman populations, while top-down control, associated with active search behavior, was key for ground beetle populations. Bottom-up controlled dynamics predominated during the early stages of vegetation succession, while top-down mechanisms dominated in later successional stages further from the glacier, driven largely by increasing temperatures. In advanced successional stages, top-down cascades intensify intraguild predation (IGP) among arthropod predators. This is especially evident in the linyphiid spider Collinsia holmgreni, whose diet included other linyphiid and lycosid spiders, reflecting high IGP. The IGP ratio in C. holmgreni negatively correlated with the activity-density of ground-dwelling prey, likely contributing to the local decline and possible extinction of this cold-adapted species in warmer, late-succession habitats where lycosid spiders dominate. These findings suggest that sustained warming and associated shifts in food web dynamics could lead to the loss of cold-adapted species, while brief warm events may temporarily impact populations without lasting extinction effects.