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Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs
Citation
Brose, U and Jonsson, T and Berlow, EL and Warren, P and Banasek-Richter, C and Bersier, L-F and Blanchard, JL and Brey, T and Carpenter, SR and Cattin Blandenier, M-F and Cushing, L and Dawah, HA and Dell, T and Edwards, F and Harper-Smith, S and Jacob, U and Ledger, ME and Martinez, ND and Memmott, J and Mintenbeck, K and Pinnegar, JK and Rall, BC and Rayner, TS and Reuman, DC and Ruess, L and Ulrich, W and Williams, RJ and Woodward, G and Cohen, JE, Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs, Ecology, 87, (10) pp. 2411-2417. ISSN 0012-9658 (2006) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
CVopyright 2006 by the Ecological Society of America
DOI: doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[2411:CBRINF]2.0.CO;2
Abstract
It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and
resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population
dynamics, and eventually food web structure, function, and evolution. Still, the general
distribution of consumer–resource body-size ratios in real ecosystems, and whether they vary
systematically among habitats or broad taxonomic groups, is poorly understood. Using a
unique global database on consumer and resource body sizes, we show that the mean body-size
ratios of aquatic herbivorous and detritivorous consumers are several orders of magnitude
larger than those of carnivorous predators. Carnivorous predator–prey body-size ratios vary
across different habitats and predator and prey types (invertebrates, ectotherm, and
endotherm vertebrates). Predator–prey body-size ratios are on average significantly higher
(1) in freshwater habitats than in marine or terrestrial habitats, (2) for vertebrate than for
invertebrate predators, and (3) for invertebrate than for ectotherm vertebrate prey. If recent
studies that relate body-size ratios to interaction strengths are general, our results suggest that
mean consumer–resource interaction strengths may vary systematically across different
habitat categories and consumer types.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | body size, food webs |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology) |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Blanchard, JL (Dr Julia Blanchard) |
| ID Code: | 100508 |
| Year Published: | 2006 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 414 |
| Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
| Deposited On: | 2015-05-18 |
| Last Modified: | 2015-09-07 |
| Downloads: | 407 View Download Statistics |
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