A Perspective on Body Size and Abundance Relationships across Ecological Communities

Gjoni, Vojsava; Glazier, Douglas S.

doi:10.3390/biology9030042

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The patterns of the LSDR across the two floodplain channels, considering the whole dataset including all the months, were both statistically significant, with similar slopes (i.e., −0.39 and −0.33 for MOLO and PONT, respectively) that were significantly shallower than predicted by Damuth [8][9][10]. Our patterns were consistent with several studies that suggested that the relationship between body size and abundance is much shallower than the value of −0.75 for aquatic macroinvertebrate communities (e.g., [26,[50][51][52]) and other animal communities (e.g., [19,[53][54][55][56]). However, the shallower slopes found were not consistent with the EER.…”

Section: Patterns Of Lsdr Molo and Lsdr Pont (All Months Included)supporting

confidence: 89%

Size–Abundance Relationships of Freshwater Macroinvertebrates in Two Contrasting Floodplain Channels of Rhone River

Gjoni

Marle

Ibelings

et al. 2022

Water

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Body size is perhaps the most fundamental property of an organism and its relationship with abundance is one of the most studied relationships in ecology. Although numerous studies have examined these relationships in local communities, few have investigated how they vary at different temporal and spatial scales. We investigated the relationship between body size and abundance of local macroinvertebrate communities in two floodplain channels of the French upper Rhone River. The two channels differ in their vegetation coverage (high vs. low vegetation) and hydrological regimes. The shapes of the size–abundance relationship were similar between channels on a yearly basis but differed when compared between months. The variation in local size–abundance relationships between months was related to variation in the functional diversity across time. Our findings suggest that local size–abundance relationships are able to quantitatively describe temporal changes in community structure, showing the importance of relating diversity with ecosystem function in a more realistic context.

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Section: Patterns Of Lsdr Molo and Lsdr Pont (All Months Included)supporting

confidence: 89%

Size–Abundance Relationships of Freshwater Macroinvertebrates in Two Contrasting Floodplain Channels of Rhone River

Gjoni

Marle

Ibelings

et al. 2022

Water

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“…Genome size does not always determine cell size, thus opening up the possibility that cell (or propagule) size may first change and only later through evolution be accompanied by changes in genome size. Increases in both cell size and genome size (including polyploidy) along natural environmental gradients of decreasing temperature, as observed in various protists, plants and invertebrate animals (e.g., [ 9 , 56 , 61 , 62 , 103 , 182 , 191 , 192 , 276 , 280 , 292 , 293 , 294 , 295 , 296 , 297 , 298 , 299 , 300 , 301 , 302 , 303 , 304 ]; but see [ 90 , 118 , 172 , 183 , 193 , 305 ]), may be the result of long-term adaptive evolution. If so, they (in combination with the laboratory experiments of [ 290 ]) provide support for the hypothetical view described in Section 4.4.2 ( Figure 6 ) that, on an evolutionary timescale, changes in cell size may precede changes in genome size (also see next Section 4.7 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome Size Covaries More Positively with Propagule Size than Adult Size: New Insights into an Old Problem

Glazier

2021

Biology

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The body size and (or) complexity of organisms is not uniformly related to the amount of genetic material (DNA) contained in each of their cell nuclei (‘genome size’). This surprising mismatch between the physical structure of organisms and their underlying genetic information appears to relate to variable accumulation of repetitive DNA sequences, but why this variation has evolved is little understood. Here, I show that genome size correlates more positively with egg size than adult size in crustaceans. I explain this and comparable patterns observed in other kinds of animals and plants as resulting from genome size relating strongly to cell size in most organisms, which should also apply to single-celled eggs and other reproductive propagules with relatively few cells that are pivotal first steps in their lives. However, since body size results from growth in cell size or number or both, it relates to genome size in diverse ways. Relationships between genome size and body size should be especially weak in large organisms whose size relates more to cell multiplication than to cell enlargement, as is generally observed. The ubiquitous single-cell ‘bottleneck’ of life cycles may affect both genome size and composition, and via both informational (genotypic) and non-informational (nucleotypic) effects, many other properties of multicellular organisms (e.g., rates of growth and metabolism) that have both theoretical and practical significance.

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“…rocky intertidal assemblages, stream insects, rainforest birds, desert lizards, large grazing mammals, pelagic zooplankton, or coral reef fishes), sometimes referred to as ‘horizontal communities’ (Vellend, 2016). While body size can still be an important predictor of competitive interactions in horizontal communities (Gjoni & Glazier, 2020), it has comparatively lower potential to elucidate patterns of community assembly or their effects on functioning, since there is little variation among species for investigators to exploit (Brown et al ., 2018). In other words, community ecologists are predominantly concerned with niche differences beyond body size, which is evident in the residual variation of species' MRs around the paradigmatic correlation with body size (the ‘noise’ around the universal relationship) ( cf .…”

Section: Metabolic Traits To Enumerate Animal Community Assembly and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can metabolic traits explain animal community assembly and functioning?

et al. 2022

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All animals on Earth compete for free energy, which is acquired, assimilated, and ultimately allocated to growth and reproduction. Competition is strongest within communities of sympatric, ecologically similar animals of roughly equal size (i.e. horizontal communities), which are often the focus of traditional community ecology. The replacement of taxonomic identities with functional traits has improved our ability to decipher the ecological dynamics that govern the assembly and functioning of animal communities. Yet, the use of low‐resolution and taxonomically idiosyncratic traits in animals may have hampered progress to date. An animal's metabolic rate (MR) determines the costs of basic organismal processes and activities, thus linking major aspects of the multifaceted constructs of ecological niches (where, when, and how energy is obtained) and ecological fitness (how much energy is accumulated and passed on to future generations). We review evidence from organismal physiology to large‐scale analyses across the tree of life to propose that MR gives rise to a group of meaningful functional traits – resting metabolic rate (RMR), maximum metabolic rate (MMR), and aerobic scope (AS) – that may permit an improved quantification of the energetic basis of species coexistence and, ultimately, the assembly and functioning of animal communities. Specifically, metabolic traits integrate across a variety of typical trait proxies for energy acquisition and allocation in animals (e.g. body size, diet, mobility, life history, habitat use), to yield a smaller suite of continuous quantities that: (1) can be precisely measured for individuals in a standardized fashion; and (2) apply to all animals regardless of their body plan, habitat, or taxonomic affiliation. While integrating metabolic traits into animal community ecology is neither a panacea to disentangling the nuanced effects of biological differences on animal community structure and functioning, nor without challenges, a small number of studies across different taxa suggest that MR may serve as a useful proxy for the energetic basis of competition in animals. Thus, the application of MR traits for animal communities can lead to a more general understanding of community assembly and functioning, enhance our ability to trace eco‐evolutionary dynamics from genotypes to phenotypes (and vice versa), and help predict the responses of animal communities to environmental change. While trait‐based ecology has improved our knowledge of animal communities to date, a more explicit energetic lens via the integration of metabolic traits may further strengthen the existing framework.

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A Perspective on Body Size and Abundance Relationships across Ecological Communities

Cited by 11 publications

References 59 publications

Size–Abundance Relationships of Freshwater Macroinvertebrates in Two Contrasting Floodplain Channels of Rhone River

Size–Abundance Relationships of Freshwater Macroinvertebrates in Two Contrasting Floodplain Channels of Rhone River

Genome Size Covaries More Positively with Propagule Size than Adult Size: New Insights into an Old Problem

Can metabolic traits explain animal community assembly and functioning?

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