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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The global ocean size spectrum from bacteria to whales
Science Advances, Vol.7(46), pp.1-12
2021
PMCID: PMC8580314
PMID: 34757796
Abstract
It has long been hypothesized that aquatic biomass is evenly distributed among logarithmic body mass size classes. Although this community structure has been observed regionally, mostly among plankton groups, its generality has never been formally tested across all marine life over the global ocean, nor have the impacts of humans on it been globally assessed. Here, we bring together data at the global scale to test the hypothesis from bacteria to whales. We find that biomass within most order of magnitude size classes is indeed remarkably constant, near 1 gigatonne (Gt) wet weight (1015 g), but bacteria and large marine mammals are markedly above and below this value, respectively. Furthermore, human impacts appear to have significantly truncated the upper one-third of the spectrum. This dramatic alteration to what is possibly life’s largest-scale regularity underscores the global extent of human activities.
Details
- Title
- The global ocean size spectrum from bacteria to whales
- Authors
- Ian A. Hatton (Corresponding Author) - Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaRyan F. Heneghan (Author) - Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaYinon M. Bar-On (Author) - Weizmann Institute of ScienceEric D. Galbraith (Author) - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
- Publication details
- Science Advances, Vol.7(46), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1126/sciadv.abh3732
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- PMID
- 34757796; PMC8580314
- Copyright note
- © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99745579402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Oceanography
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Source: InCites