Asymptotic Size Determines Species Abundance in the Marine Size Spectrum

Andersen,; Beyer,

doi:10.2307/3844675

Cited by 72 publications

(155 citation statements)

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“…The existence, form, and parameters of VMA can be tested further using other datasets, especially those on tropical forests, and using other theoretical models, such as models of dynamic size spectra for fisheries (28,29). A better understanding of how population dynamics and ecological mechanisms determine the parameters and forms of TL, DMA, and VMA requires further research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometric scaling of population variance with mean body size is predicted from Taylor’s law and density-mass allometry

Cohen

Meng

Schuster

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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Two widely tested empirical patterns in ecology are combined here to predict how the variation of population density relates to the average body size of organisms. Taylor's law (TL) asserts that the variance of the population density of a set of populations is a power-law function of the mean population density. Density-mass allometry (DMA) asserts that the mean population density of a set of populations is a power-law function of the mean individual body mass. Combined, DMA and TL predict that the variance of the population density is a power-law function of mean individual body mass. We call this relationship "variance-mass allometry" (VMA). We confirmed the theoretically predicted power-law form and the theoretically predicted parameters of VMA, using detailed data on individual oak trees (Quercus spp.) of Black Rock Forest, Cornwall, New York. These results connect the variability of population density to the mean body mass of individuals.self-thinning | fluctuation scaling | Damuth's law | nonlinear least squares | spatial Taylor's law U nderstanding how and why living populations, natural and engineered, vary in space and time is a core problem of ecology. When a population fluctuates to a low density, its risk of extinction may rise and its genetic diversity may pass through a bottleneck with enduring evolutionary consequences. In fisheries, forests, and agriculture, population fluctuations may directly affect human supplies of food, fiber, and timber and have economic consequences. Outbreaks of arthropod and molluscan vectors of diseases of humans and animals may raise risks of disease. These scientific and practical reasons make it important to understand how and why population densities fluctuate.An important generalization about population variability is Taylor's law (1-3). Taylor's law (TL) is the subject of an estimated 1,000 papers (4) and has been confirmed for hundreds of species or groups of species in field observations and laboratory experiments (5, 6). The censused populations may include a single species, a single genus, or more loosely related organisms. TL asserts that variance of population density = aðmean population densityÞ b ; a > 0:[1]On logarithmic scales, TL becomes a linear relationship: logðvariance of population densityÞ = logðaÞ + b × logðmean population densityÞ: Typically, b > 0: The mean and variance of population density increase together. In many empirical examples, 1 ≤ b ≤ 2. Density-mass allometry (DMA) (7-13) asserts that mean population density = uðmean body mass per individualÞ v ; u > 0:Typically, bigger organisms are rarer and v < 0. DMA is sometimes called the self-thinning law (14). DMA applies to single species, collections of species (15-18), and foodwebs (19-23).Substituting DMA, Eq. 2, into TL, Eq. 1, gives variance of population density = au b ðmean body mass per individualÞ bv :We called this predicted relation variance-mass allometry (VMA). If b > 0 and v < 0, as is typical, then bv < 0: Increasing mean body mass will be associated with decreasing variance ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometric scaling of population variance with mean body size is predicted from Taylor’s law and density-mass allometry

Cohen

Meng

Schuster

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

103

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“…The FCSRM (Hartvig et al, 2011) extends the size-spectrum theory of Andersen and Beyer (2006) and represents a general temperate marine community of fish. Life-history parameters and trophic interactions between individuals are determined by individual body size and motivated by the observed strong sizedependence of life-history traits (Peters, 1983) and trophic level (Jennings et al, 2001(Jennings et al, , 2007 on body size.…”

Section: The Fish Community Size-resolved Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size-selective fishing drives species composition in the Celtic Sea

Shephard

Fung

Houle

et al. 2012

ICES Journal of Marine Science

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Fishing alters community size structure by selectively removing larger individual fish and by changing the relative abundance of different-sized species. To assess the relative importance of individual-and species-level effects, two indices of fish community structure were compared, the relative abundance of large fish individuals (large fish indicator, LFI) and the relative abundance of large fish species (large species indicator, LSI). The two indices were strongly correlated for empirical data from the Celtic Sea and for data from simulated model communities, suggesting that much of the variability in the LFI is caused by shifts in the relative abundance of species (LSI). This correlation is explained by the observation that most of the biomass of a given species is spread over few length classes, a range spanning the factor 2 of individual length, such that most species contributed predominantly to either the small or the large component of the LFI. The results suggest that the effects of size-selective fishing in the Celtic Sea are mediated mainly through changes in community composition.

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“…the volume of water or the area of bottom surface searched per unit time (Persson et al, 1998). The search rate of moving, visually hunting predators is assumed to be equal to the product of swimming speed and the visual field of the predator that may scale allometrically with its size; the scaling exponent approximately equals 0.8 (Andersen and Beyer, 2006). The ability to detect prey items is determined by predator's visual acuity that scales with an exponent of ~0.11 with its body mass, based on a limited set of experiments in fish (McGill and Mittelbach, 2006).…”

Section: Multi-trait Food Webs: Size Allometries Of Predationmentioning

confidence: 99%