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Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean1.94 MB
Preprint VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Preprint
Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean
Research Square, Vol.25 April 2022
Research Square Company
2022
Abstract
For over 50 years, the conceptualisation of low-nutrient oligotrophic systems having longer food chains and thus lower energy transfer to fish than their high-nutrient eutrophic counterparts has achieved the status of an ecological paradigm. However, recent global assessments indicate global fish biomass could be much higher than previously thought, suggesting that our traditional understanding of food webs may need to be revisited. Here, we challenge the classical paradigm by exploring the role of zooplankton in food webs across the world’s oceans. Using observed zooplankton size spectra, and output from a size-spectrum model that resolves nine zooplankton groups, we conclude that food chains in oligotrophic (low-nutrient) and eutrophic (high-nutrient) systems have similar lengths. We offer a compelling hypothesis to explain this emergent pattern: self-organisation of zooplankton groups across the global productivity gradient regulates food chain length. We find that in oligotrophic systems the increased carnivory and longer food chains are offset by relatively large gelatinous filter feeders eating the dominant small phytoplankton, resulting in shorter-than-expected food chains, but decreasing food quality for fish. Our findings highlight the pivotal role zooplankton play in regulating energy transfer. Better resolution of zooplankton groups, their feeding relationships and carbon content in models will increase our ability to estimate current global fish biomass, project future fish biomass under climate change, and provide more-robust forecasts of nutrient and carbon cycling.
Details
- Title
- Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean
- Authors
- Jason D Everett (Author) - The University of QueenslandRyan Heneghan (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyJulia Blanchard (Author) - University of TasmaniaIain Suthers (Author) - UNSW AustraliaEvgeny Pakhomov (Author) - University of British ColumbiaPatrick Sykes (Author) - The University of QueenslandDavid Schoeman (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringMark Baird (Author) - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research OrganisationSünnje Linnéa Basedow (Author) - The Arctic University of NorwayKatarzyna Błachowiak-Samołyk (Author) - Polish Academy of SciencesMichael Heath (Author) - University of StrathclydeRussell Hopcroft (Author) - University of Alaska FairbanksJenny A Huggett (Author) - Government of South AfricaMartin Huret (Author) - IfremerDavid Kimmel (Author) - NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science CenterJean-Philippe Labat (Author) - Laboratoire d’Océanographie de VillefrancheRubens Lopes (Author) - University of Sao PauloCatarina Marcolin (Author) - Universidade Federal do Sul da BahiaEnrique Nogueira (Author) - Instituto Español de OceanografíaMargaux Noyon (Author) - Nelson Mandela UniversitySabine Schultes (Author) - Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichMarc Sourisseau (Author) - IfremerKerrie M Swadling (Author) - University of TasmaniaEmilia Trudnowska (Author) - Polish Academy of SciencesAnthony J Richardson (Author) - The University of Queensland
- Publication details
- Research Square, Vol.25 April 2022
- Publisher
- Research Square Company
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1186379/v1
- ISSN
- 2693-5015
- Copyright note
- This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99634340202621
- Output Type
- Preprint
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