scholarly journals Body size is negatively correlated with trophic position among cyprinids

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 150652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward D. Burress ◽  
Jordan M. Holcomb ◽  
Karine Orlandi Bonato ◽  
Jonathan W. Armbruster
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Trophic Position ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Mechanical Constraints ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
Multiple Levels

Body size has many ecological and evolutionary implications that extend across multiple levels of organization. Body size is often positively correlated with species traits such as metabolism, prey size and trophic position (TP) due to physiological and mechanical constraints. We used stable isotope analysis to quantify TP among minnows across multiple assemblages that differed in their species composition, diversity and food web structure. Body size significantly predicted TP across different lineages and assemblages, and indicated a significant negative relationship. The observed negative relationship between body size and TP is contrary to conventional knowledge, and is likely to have arisen owing to highly clade-specific patterns, such that clades consist of either large benthic species or small pelagic species. Cyprinids probably subvert the physiological and mechanical constraints that generally produce a positive relationship between body size and TP using anatomical modifications and by consuming small-bodied prey, respectively. The need for herbivorous cyprinids to digest cellulose-rich foods probably selected for larger bodies to accommodate longer intestinal tracts and thereby to facilitate digestion of nutrient-poor resources, such as algae. Therefore, body size and TP are likely to have coevolved in cyprinids in association with specialization along the benthic to pelagic resource axis.

Food web structure and body size: trophic position and resource acquisition

Oikos ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matías Arim ◽  
Sebastián R. Abades ◽  
Gabriel Laufer ◽  
Marcelo Loureiro ◽  
Pablo A. Marquet
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Trophic Position ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure

Food web structure of a shallow eutrophic lake (Lake Taihu, China) assessed by stable isotope analysis

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 683 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhigang Mao ◽  
Xiaohong Gu ◽  
Qingfei Zeng ◽  
Luhong Zhou ◽  
Mingbo Sun
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Lake Taihu ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Eutrophic Lake ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Shallow Eutrophic Lake

THE WING LENGTH OF SWELTSA REVELSTOKA (PLECOPTERA: CHLOROPERLIDAE)

1985 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.B. Donald
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Wing Length ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Head Capsule ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
Stream Size

AbstractFunctional wing length (wing length/head-capsule width) of female Sweltsa revelstoka (Jewett) from streams was measured for 19 sites that have been free of Wisconsin glacial ice for about 15 000 years and possibly longer, and from 23 sites that have been ice free for about 10 000 years. At the former sites brachypterous populations were common and there was a significant negative relationship between functional wing length and elevation, and a positive relationship between functional wing length and stream size. In the area that deglaciated more recently, populations were not or only slightly brachypterous and there was no significant relationship between wing length and elevation or between wing length and stream size. Functional wing length was not related to body size. These analyses indicate that the brachypterous condition is probably genotypic in origin. I suggest that streams were colonized by macropterous forms shortly after deglaciation, and that brachyptery takes several millennia to develop at small, high-elevation streams.

Food web structure prior to and following construction of artificial reefs, based on stable isotope analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 101354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipeng Zhang ◽  
Mingqi Wang ◽  
Jingjing Song ◽  
Wenxi Zhao ◽  
Daode Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Artificial Reefs ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure

scholarly journals Warming and nitrogen affect size structuring and density dependence in a host–parasitoid food web

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1605) ◽  
pp. 3033-3041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio de Sassi ◽  
Phillip P. A. Staniczenko ◽  
Jason M. Tylianakis
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Mediated Effects ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Nitrogen Treatments

Body size is a major factor constraining the trophic structure and functioning of ecological communities. Food webs are known to respond to changes in basal resource abundance, and climate change can initiate compounding bottom-up effects on food-web structure through altered resource availability and quality. However, the effects of climate and co-occurring global changes, such as nitrogen deposition, on the density and size relationships between resources and consumers are unknown, particularly in host–parasitoid food webs, where size structuring is less apparent. We use a Bayesian modelling approach to explore the role of consumer and resource density and body size on host–parasitoid food webs assembled from a field experiment with factorial warming and nitrogen treatments. We show that the treatments increased resource (host) availability and quality (size), leading to measureable changes in parasitoid feeding behaviour. Parasitoids interacted less evenly within their host range and increasingly focused on abundant and high-quality (i.e. larger) hosts. In summary, we present evidence that climate-mediated bottom-up effects can significantly alter food-web structure through both density- and trait-mediated effects.

scholarly journals Exceptional body sizes but typical trophic structure in a Pleistocene food web

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 20160228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel M. Segura ◽  
Richard A. Fariña ◽  
Matías Arim
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Trophic Position ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Additional Energy ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Energetic Constraints ◽  
The Relationship

In this study, we focused on the exceptionally large mammals inhabiting the Americas during the Quaternary period and the paramount role of body size in species ecology. We evaluated two main features of Pleistocene food webs: the relationship between body size and (i) trophic position and (ii) vulnerability to predation. Despite the large range of species sizes, we found a hump-shaped relationship between trophic position and body size. We also found a negative trend in species vulnerability similar to that observed in modern faunas. The largest species lived near the boundary of energetic constraints, such that any shift in resource availability could drive these species to extinction. Our results reinforce several features of megafauna ecology: (i) the negative relationship between trophic position and body size implies that large-sized species were particularly vulnerable to changes in energetic support; (ii) living close to energetic imbalance could favour the incorporation of additional energy sources, for example, a transition from a herbivorous to a scavenging diet in the largest species (e.g. Megatherium ) and (iii) the interactions and structure of Quaternary megafauna communities were shaped by similar forces to those shaping modern fauna communities.

scholarly journals Preliminary examination of food web structure of Nicola Lake (Taim Hydrological System, south Brazil) using dual C and N stable isotope analyses

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre M. Garcia ◽  
David J. Hoeinghaus ◽  
João P. Vieira ◽  
Kirk O. Winemiller ◽  
David M. L. Motta Marques ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Stable Isotope Ratio ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Hydrological System

Taim Ecological Reserve is located within the Taim Hydrological System and was created to protect a heterogeneous and productive landscape harboring exceptional biological diversity in southern Brazil. Using stable isotope ratio analyses of carbon (delta13C) and nitrogen (delta15N), we provide a preliminary description of the food web structure, including estimates of production sources supporting fish populations and vertical trophic structure, within a representative lake of this system. A total of 21 organisms (5 macrophytes, 3 mollusks and 13 adult fishes) representing 16 species were collected for isotope analysis. Fishes had delta13C values ranging from -24.30º/oo to -28.31º/oo , showing concordance with the range of values observed for macrophytes (-25.49 to -27.10º/oo), and suggesting that these plants could be a major carbon source supporting these fishes. delta13C signatures of Corbicula (-30.81º/oo) and Pomacea (-24.26º/oo) indirectly suggest that phytoplankton and benthic algae could be alternative carbon sources for some consumers. Nitrogen isotope ratios indicated approximately three consumer trophic levels. The pearl cichlid Geophagus brasiliensis was a primary consumer. Two catfishes (Trachelyopterus lucenai and Loricariichthys anus) were secondary consumers. Two congeneric pike cichclids (Crenicichla lepidota and C. punctata), a catfish (Pimelodus maculatus) and the characids Astyanax fasciatus and Oligosarcus robustus were tertiary consumers. Further studies including additional primary producers and consumers and greater sample numbers should be conducted to provide a more complete and detailed description of food web structure and dynamics within the reserve.

Species traits as drivers of food web structure

Oikos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idaline Laigle ◽  
Isabelle Aubin ◽  
Christoph Digel ◽  
Ulrich Brose ◽  
Isabelle Boulangeat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure

Latitudinal variation in egg and clutch size in turtles

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2448-2461 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Iverson ◽  
Christine P. Balgooyen ◽  
Kathy K. Byrd ◽  
Kelly K. Lyddan
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Latitudinal Variation ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship ◽  
Latitudinal Patterns ◽  
Clutch Mass ◽  
Size Data

Reproductive and body size data from 169 populations of 146 species (56% of those recognized), 65 genera (75%), and 11 families (92%) of turtles were tabulated to test for latitudinal variation in egg and clutch size. Body-size-adjusted correlation analysis of all populations (as well as within most families) revealed (i) a significant negative relationship (r2 = 0.26) between latitude and egg size, (ii) a significant positive relationship (r2 = 0.21) between latitude and clutch size, and (iii) no relationship between latitude and clutch mass. Phylogenetic contrast analyses corroborated these patterns. Clutch size was also negatively correlated with egg size across all populations as well as within most families. We evaluate the applicability to turtles of hypotheses postulated to explain such latitudinal patterns for other vertebrate groups. The observed pattern may be the result of latitudinal variation in selection on egg size and (or) clutch size, as well as on the optimal trade-off between these two traits.

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