scholarly journals Evidence for benthic body size miniaturization in the deep sea

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 1339-1345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne I. Kaariainen ◽  
Brian J. Bett
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Size Class ◽  
The Body ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Individual Biomass ◽  
Wet Weight ◽  
Accumulation Curves ◽  
Average Individual

The benthic body size miniaturization hypothesis states that deep-sea communities are dominated by organisms of smaller body size, although some field studies have produced contradictory results. Using appropriate sample sets, this study tests this hypothesis by contrasting the benthic communities of the Fladen Ground (North Sea, 150 m) and the Faroe–Shetland Channel (1600 m). Samples were collected for large (500 μm) and small macrofauna (250–355 μm), meiofauna (45 μm) as well as an intermediate sized ‘mesofauna’ (180 μm) to ensure comprehensive coverage of the full meio- and macro-faunal body size-range. The body size structure of the benthos was compared using two methods. The more widely used average individual biomass method involves dividing the total sample biomass by sample abundance. Additionally, body size accumulation curves were constructed by assigning all specimens into a logarithmic size-class and then plotting the cumulative percentage of individuals present in each size-class. The results seem to support the hypothesis that the deep-sea environment is a small organism habitat. Although these findings only represent two locations, the overall body size accumulation curves clearly display a statistically significant shift towards smaller body sizes at the deeper site. The magnitude of the effect is appreciable with median metazoan body size reducing from 14.3 μg wet weight in the Fladen Ground to 3.8 μg wet weight in the Faroe–Shetland Channel. The average individual biomass measurements are shown to be of limited value and can lead to potentially misleading conclusions if the underlying size structure is not analysed in detail.

Controls on benthic biomass size spectra in shelf and deep-sea sediments – a modelling study

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 8189-8240 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. Kelly-Gerreyn ◽  
T. R. Anderson ◽  
B. J. Bett ◽  
A. P. Martin ◽  
J. I. Kaariainen
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
The Body ◽  
General Observation ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Size Classes ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Wet Weight ◽  
Biomass Spectra

Abstract. Factors controlling biomass distributions in marine benthic organisms (meio- to macro-fauna, 1 μg–32 mg wet weight) were investigated through observations and allometric modelling. Biomass (and abundance) size spectra were measured at three locations: the Faroe-Shetland Channel in the north-east Atlantic (FSC, water depth 1600 m, September 2000); the Fladen Ground in the North Sea (FG, 150 m, September 2000); and the hypoxic Oman Margin (OM, 500 m, September 2002) in the Arabian Sea. Biomass increased with body size through a power law at FG (allometric exponent, b = 0.16) and at FSC (b = 0.32), but less convincingly at OM (b was not significantly different from −1/4 or 0). Our results question the assumption that metazoan biomass spectra are bimodal in marine sediments. The model incorporated 16 metazoan size classes, as derived from the observed spectra, all reliant on a common detrital food pool. All physiological (ingestion, mortality, assimilation and respiration) parameters scaled to body size following optimisation to the data at each site, the resulting values being consistent within expectations from the literature. For all sites, body size related changes in mortality played the greatest role in determining the trend of the biomass size spectra. The body size trend in the respiration rate was most sensitive to allometry in both mortality and ingestion, and the trend in body size spectra of the production: biomass ratio was explained by the allometry in ingestion. Our results suggest that size-scaling mortality and ingestion are important factors determining the distribution of biomass across the meiofauna to macrofauna size range in marine sedimentary communities, in agreement with the general observation that biomass tends to accumulates in larger rather than smaller size classes in these environments.

The body-size structure of macrobenthos changes predictably along gradients of hydrodynamic stress and organic enrichment

2015 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Donadi ◽  
Britas Klemens Eriksson ◽  
Karsten Alexander Lettmann ◽  
Dorothee Hodapp ◽  
Jörg-Olaf Wolff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Organic Enrichment ◽  
Hydrodynamic Stress

scholarly journals Macroscale patterns of oceanic zooplankton composition and size structure

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoela C. Brandão ◽  
Fabio Benedetti ◽  
Séverine Martini ◽  
Yawouvi Dodji Soviadan ◽  
Jean-Olivier Irisson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Fish Larvae ◽  
The Body ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Zooplankton Abundance

AbstractOcean plankton comprise organisms from viruses to fish larvae that are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and the provision of marine services such as fisheries and CO2 sequestration. The latter services are partly governed by variations in plankton community composition and the expression of traits such as body size at community-level. While community assembly has been thoroughly studied for the smaller end of the plankton size spectrum, the larger end comprises ectotherms that are often studied at the species, or group-level, rather than as communities. The body size of marine ectotherms decreases with temperature, but controls on community-level traits remain elusive, hindering the predictability of marine services provision. Here, we leverage Tara Oceans datasets to determine how zooplankton community composition and size structure varies with latitude, temperature and productivity-related covariates in the global surface ocean. Zooplankton abundance and median size decreased towards warmer and less productive environments, as a result of changes in copepod composition. However, some clades displayed the opposite relationships, which may be ascribed to alternative feeding strategies. Given that climate models predict increasingly warmed and stratified oceans, our findings suggest that zooplankton communities will shift towards smaller organisms which might weaken their contribution to the biological carbon pump.

scholarly journals The life cycle of a desert spider inferred from observed size frequency distribution

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Gisela Nieto-Castañeda ◽  
Saías Hazarmabeth Salgadougarte ◽  
María Luisa Jiménez-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Length Distribution ◽  
The Body ◽  
Statistical Tool ◽  
Size Frequency Distribution ◽  
Mating Period ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Size Groups

We studied the life cycle of the spider Syspira tigrina (Araneae: Miturgidae) by indirect methods. This species is endemic to the North American deserts and locally abundant; nevertheless, information on its biology is scarce. We did monthly collections for over a year at La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. We found that adult spiders were more abundant between August and November 2005 and had low abundance or were absent the remainder of the year while juveniles were present all year. To estimate changing body size structure of the population we analyzed juvenile tibia I length distribution (TIL) (as indicator of the body size) of each monthly sample by means of Kernel Density Estimators (KDEs). We found 35 TIL juveniles size groups (Gaussian components). The smallest juveniles were more abundant between October 2005 and January 2006 and the biggest were more abundant twice during the hottest months. We hypothesize that mating period is between August and October 2005 and the main recruitment period from November 2005 and January 2006. However we found evidenceof continuous recruitment through the year, suggesting that although there is a peak of reproduction in November, the females oviposit almost all year. Also there is evidence of juveniles’ growth pattern from January to July 2006. The use of KDEs with histograms is a very good statistical tool to delimit size groups with mixed frequency distributions that otherwise might be difficult. This tool should be useful to test any hypothesis related with the body size structure of a population or community.

scholarly journals Geographical patterns in the body-size structure of European lake fish assemblages along abiotic and biotic gradients

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 2221-2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Emmrich ◽  
Stéphanie Pédron ◽  
Sandra Brucet ◽  
Ian J. Winfield ◽  
Erik Jeppesen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Geographical Patterns ◽  
Lake Fish

scholarly journals A trait-based metric sheds new light on the nature of the body size-depth relationship in the deep sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth L. Mindel ◽  
Thomas J. Webb ◽  
Francis C. Neat ◽  
Julia L. Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Depth Relationship

scholarly journals Effects of human footprint and biophysical factors on the body‐size structure of fished marine species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nestor E. Bosch ◽  
Jacquomo Monk ◽  
Jordan Goetze ◽  
Shaun Wilson ◽  
Russell C. Babcock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Footprint ◽  
Biophysical Factors

scholarly journals Climate change in size-structured ecosystems

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1605) ◽  
pp. 2903-2912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Brose ◽  
Jennifer A. Dunne ◽  
Jose M. Montoya ◽  
Owen L. Petchey ◽  
Florian D. Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Mechanistic Approach ◽  
Effects Of Temperature ◽  
Future Consequences

One important aspect of climate change is the increase in average temperature, which will not only have direct physiological effects on all species but also indirectly modifies abundances, interaction strengths, food-web topologies, community stability and functioning. In this theme issue, we highlight a novel pathway through which warming indirectly affects ecological communities: by changing their size structure (i.e. the body-size distributions). Warming can shift these distributions towards dominance of small- over large-bodied species. The conceptual, theoretical and empirical research described in this issue, in sum, suggests that effects of temperature may be dominated by changes in size structure, with relatively weak direct effects. For example, temperature effects via size structure have implications for top-down and bottom-up control in ecosystems and may ultimately yield novel communities. Moreover, scaling up effects of temperature and body size from physiology to the levels of populations, communities and ecosystems may provide a crucially important mechanistic approach for forecasting future consequences of global warming.

scholarly journals Size variation of morphological traits in Bosmina freyi and its relation with environmental variables in a tropical eutrophic reservoir

Bionatura ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1763-1769
Author(s):  
Yury Catalina López-Cardona ◽  
Edison Parra-García ◽  
Jaime Palacio-Baena ◽  
Silvia Lucía Villabona-González
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Zooplankton Community ◽  
The Body ◽  
Zooplankton Community Structure ◽  
Heterogeneous Distribution

We assessed the size variation of morphological traits in Bosmina freyi regarding changes in environmental variables, the biomass of invertebrate predators, and algal food availability in two depths of the photic zone, the riverine zone, and near the dam zone (lacustrine zone) in The Riogrande II reservoir. In 200 individuals of B. freyi, using the software TpsDig2 we measured the body size, mucron and antennule lengths, and the antennule aperture percentage. Using the Mann-Whitney U test, we assessed the differences between these traits considering the zones and the photic depths; however, we used a canonical discriminant analysis with morphologic traits and environmental variables. Measured morphological traits showed a heterogeneous distribution between sampled zones and depths (p < 0.05). The highest values mucron and antennule lengths and the smallest antennule aperture angle were observed on small body size individuals, associated with physical, chemical, and biological characteristics in the riverine zone and the subsurface. Size structure distribution in B. freyi was related to changes in water temperature, trophic state, depredation, availability, and quality of food, of which implications related to the zooplankton community structure, predator-prey relations, and energy flow in the reservoir.

The Body Size of Headstarted and Wild Juvenile European Pond Turtles (Emys orbicularis)

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Sławomir Mitrus ◽  
Bartłomiej Najbar ◽  
Adam Kotowicz ◽  
Anna Najbar
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
The Body ◽  
Emys Orbicularis
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