Plankton Size Spectra in Relation to Ecosystem Productivity, Size, and Perturbation

Sprules, W. Gary; Munawar, M.

doi:10.1139/f86-222

Cited by 385 publications

(333 citation statements)

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“…For this reason, ecologists try to find means for quantitative estimations of structural deformation for natural communities (Odum 1971;Begon et al 1996). Size spectrum analysis (Sheldon et al 1972;Sprules & Munawar 1986) is one of the tools available to characterize the whole community structure. The 'ataxonomic' biomass size spectrum (BSS) and normalized biomass size spectrum (NBS) are closely connected to a more traditional one, where the size-frequency distribution of species or higher taxa is plotted (Hemmingsen 1934;Hutchinson & MacArthur 1959;Smith et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lago Maggiore oligotrophication as seen from the long-term evolution of its phytoplankton taxonomic size structure

Kamenir

Morabito²,

Goodman³

2009

J Limnol

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lago Maggiore oligotrophication as seen from the long-term evolution of its phytoplankton taxonomic size structure

Kamenir

Morabito²,

Goodman³

2009

J Limnol

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“…When the slope of the log-transformed spectrum is Ϫ1.0, there is an even distribution of biomass among all size classes-the situation observed by Sheldon and co-workers (Sheldon et al 1972(Sheldon et al , 1977-that has invited explanation for some time (e.g., Platt and Denman 1978;Kiefer and Berwald 1992). Many studies have shown that, regardless of slope, a log-linear model appropriately characterizes planktonic spectra (e.g., Rodriguez and Mullin 1986;Ahrens and Peters 1991), although not equally well in all situations (e.g., Sprules et al 1983;Tittel et al 1998). Rodriguez and Mullin (1986) argued that the significance of power-law descriptions of size spectra per se may be of more value than a detailed analysis of slopes.…”

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confidence: 95%

Microbial size spectra from natural and nutrient enriched ecosystems

Cavender-Bares

Rinaldo

Chisholm

2001

Limnology & Oceanography

107

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Microbial size spectra, including bacteria through nanophytoplankton, were measured by use of flow cytometry across the western north Atlantic Ocean and during two nutrient enrichment studies: bottle enrichments in the Sargasso Sea and an in situ iron enrichment in the equatorial Pacific (IronEx II). Spectral shapes, or the relative conformity to a function described by a power law, ranged from smooth and log linear during the spring bloom in the Sargasso Sea to being distinctly non-log linear in coastal waters. Overall, the individual spectra within large regions characterized by similar ecological conditions showed remarkable consistency, inviting speculation that powerful organizing mechanisms are at work in these communities. Moreover, the ensemble average of all of the spectra along the transect displays clear power-law behavior. Slopes ranged from Ϫ1.0, in which biomass was equally distributed between all size classes, to Ϫ1.4, in which proportionally more biomass was contained in smaller size classes; there was no clear relationship between nutrient concentrations and spectral slopes over the entire data set. Species succession in nutrient-enriched bottles caused spectra to evolve from relatively smooth power laws to distributions showing preferred sizes (i.e., nonlinear on a log-log plot). The IronEx II spectra, however, remained similar over the course of the experiment. It could be that the elimination of bottle effects in this experiment buffered the system in ways that maintained the size structure of the microbial community over the size range we measured. Our results suggest conditions that lead to log-linear size distributions; these should be verified over a broader range of scales and environments.Size spectra, which display the relative abundance of organisms of different sizes, convey a synoptic image of ecological communities that is taxon independent. As such, they have been attractive to ecological theorists and have been the subject of periodic interest in marine ecology for the past 30 yr. Sheldon et al. (1972Sheldon et al. ( , 1977 recognized the predictive powers of size spectra, suggesting that fish stocks could be predicted if the planktonic size spectrum were known. Moreover, a spectral approach offers potential for enhancing ecosystem models (Gin et al. 1998) AcknowledgementsWe thank the captain and crew of the R/V Oceanus, who facilitated the collection of the transect data through challenging weather conditions. We thank M. Durand and R. Greene for help developing the Mie fit to our calibration data. We also thank R. Olson and L. Moore for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript and J. Rodríguez and an anonymous reviewer for valuable critical comments.

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“…Sprules and Munawar (1986) A similar difference between energy partitioning patterns in stable versus unstable ecosystems can be traced within separate trophic groups. Biddanda et al (2001) measured bacterial respiration in Lake Superior and several small Minnesota lakes, differing greatly in the degree of eutrophy (chlorophyll content from 0.57 to 53 g l −1 ).…”

Section: Size Spectra In Aquatic Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Body size, energy consumption and allometric scaling: a new dimension in the diversity?stability debate

Makarieva

2004

Ecological Complexity

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A new theoretical approach is developed that links the allometry of energy partitioning among differently-sized organisms in ecological community to community stability. The magnitude of fluctuations of plant biomass introduced by plant-feeding heterotrophs is shown to grow rapidly with increasing body size. To keep these fluctuations at a low level compatible with ecosystem stability, the share of ecosystem primary productivity claimed by plant-feeding heterotrophs should decrease with increasing body size. In unstable environments the ecological restrictions on biotic fluctuations are lessened and net primary productivity can be distributed more evenly among differently sized organisms. Within the developed approach it is possible to quantitatively estimate not only the scaling exponents in the dependence of population density and biomass of heterotrophs on body size, but also the absolute values of energy fluxes claimed by organisms of a given size in stable communities. Theoretical predictions are tested against diverse sets of empirical data. It is shown that in stable ecological communities the largest heterotrophs are allowed to consume no more than several tenths of percent of net primary productivity.

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Plankton Size Spectra in Relation to Ecosystem Productivity, Size, and Perturbation

Cited by 385 publications

References 10 publications

Lago Maggiore oligotrophication as seen from the long-term evolution of its phytoplankton taxonomic size structure

Lago Maggiore oligotrophication as seen from the long-term evolution of its phytoplankton taxonomic size structure

Microbial size spectra from natural and nutrient enriched ecosystems

Body size, energy consumption and allometric scaling: a new dimension in the diversity?stability debate

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