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Prey size diversity hinders biomass trophic transfer and predator size diversity
promotes it in planktonic communities
#MMPMID26865298
García-Comas C
; Sastri AR
; Ye L
; Chang CY
; Lin FS
; Su MS
; Gong GC
; Hsieh CH
Proc Biol Sci
2016[Feb]; 283
(1824
): ? PMID26865298
show ga
Body size exerts multiple effects on plankton food-web interactions. However, the
influence of size structure on trophic transfer remains poorly quantified in the
field. Here, we examine how the size diversity of prey (nano-microplankton) and
predators (mesozooplankton) influence trophic transfer efficiency (using biomass
ratio as a proxy) in natural marine ecosystems. Our results support previous
studies on single trophic levels: transfer efficiency decreases with increasing
prey size diversity and is enhanced with greater predator size diversity. We
further show that communities with low nano-microplankton size diversity and high
mesozooplankton size diversity tend to occur in warmer environments with low
nutrient concentrations, thus promoting trophic transfer to higher trophic levels
in those conditions. Moreover, we reveal an interactive effect of predator and
prey size diversities: the positive effect of predator size diversity becomes
influential when prey size diversity is high. Mechanistically, the negative
effect of prey size diversity on trophic transfer may be explained by unicellular
size-based metabolic constraints as well as trade-offs between growth and
predation avoidance with size, whereas increasing predator size diversity may
enhance diet niche partitioning and thus promote trophic transfer. These findings
provide insights into size-based theories of ecosystem functioning, with
implications for ecosystem predictive models.
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