Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll

Odum, Howard T.; Odum, Eugene P.

doi:10.2307/1943285

Cited by 840 publications

(515 citation statements)

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“…Johannes ( 1967) matter (which he indicates is predominantly mucus) is about 2% of the reef production on Eniwetok Atoll (Marshall Islands) which amounts to 40% of coral respiration. This may be an underestimate, for Johannes correlated his values of mucus transport with estimates of reef production made many years ago (Odum and Odum 1955). Nevertheless, both our observations and those of Johannes clearly indicate that an appreciable proportion of the reef productivity is released in the form of particulate matter.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Some authors have found large quantities of zooplankton (Russell 1934;Emery 1968), while others have reporte,d extremely lo'w concentrations (Sargent and Austin 1954;Odum and Odum 1955). If large conccntrations of zooplankton do exist, what would be the source of their energy in such coral reef waters of impoverished phytoplankton content?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coral reefs are highly productive communities in tropical waters of low phytoplankton and nutrient contents ( Sargent and Austin 1954;Odum and Odum 1955). It has become apparent that organic aggregates and microscopic particles are abundant in association with them (Johanncs 1967;Marshall 1965Marshall , 1968.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Production of Particulate Organic Matter by the Reef on Kavaratti Atoll (Laccadives)

Qasim

Sankaranarayanan

1970

Limnology & Oceanography

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The concentration of particulate organic carbon in the vicinity of Kavaratti Atoll is much greater than that of the surrounding sea. The particulate organic matter, which is largely produced by the coral reef, amounts to about 20% of the total gross production of tho reef community. It is suggested that, in the absence of an adequate standing crop of phytoplankton, the particulate matter may form an important source of energy to zooplankton in coral reef waters.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Production of Particulate Organic Matter by the Reef on Kavaratti Atoll (Laccadives)

Qasim

Sankaranarayanan

1970

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…Systems theory (15,16) is a top-down approach that quantifies the fluxes and stores of energy or materials among functional compartments and derives emergent whole-ecosystem properties, including average residence times of carbon and other molecules, total system throughflow (TST; the sum of all flows in the system), and the Finn cycling index (FCI; the percentage of organic carbon that is recycled through the decomposer loop). Metabolic theory (17,18) is a bottom-up approach that quantifies the fluxes and stores of energy and materials within organisms and uses the scaling of metabolic rate with body size and body temperature to predict structural and functional characteristics at multiple levels of organization from individual organisms to ecosystems (6,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Both approaches are grounded in universal physical laws and established biological principles.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic theory predicts whole-ecosystem properties

Schramski

Dell

Grady

et al. 2015

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

138

129

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Understanding the effects of individual organisms on material cycles and energy fluxes within ecosystems is central to predicting the impacts of human-caused changes on climate, land use, and biodiversity. Here we present a theory that integrates metabolic (organism-based bottom-up) and systems (ecosystem-based topdown) approaches to characterize how the metabolism of individuals affects the flows and stores of materials and energy in ecosystems. The theory predicts how the average residence time of carbon molecules, total system throughflow (TST), and amount of recycling vary with the body size and temperature of the organisms and with trophic organization. We evaluate the theory by comparing theoretical predictions with outputs of numerical models designed to simulate diverse ecosystem types and with empirical data for real ecosystems. Although residence times within different ecosystems vary by orders of magnitude-from weeks in warm pelagic oceans with minute phytoplankton producers to centuries in cold forests with large tree producers-as predicted, all ecosystems fall along a single line: residence time increases linearly with slope = 1.0 with the ratio of whole-ecosystem biomass to primary productivity (B/P). TST was affected predominantly by primary productivity and recycling by the transfer of energy from microbial decomposers to animal consumers. The theory provides a robust basis for estimating the flux and storage of energy, carbon, and other materials in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems and for quantifying the roles of different kinds of organisms and environments at scales from local ecosystems to the biosphere. metabolic theory | systems ecology | total system throughflow | residence time | cycling I n most ecosystems, energy and materials flow through trophic networks comprised of plant primary producers, animal consumers, and microbial decomposers (Fig. 1). The individual organisms that make up these networks control the storage and flux of energy, carbon, and other materials. Consequently, a theoretical framework that can account for how different kinds of organisms and ecosystems affect fluxes and stores of energy and materials in ecosystems is central to understanding the carbon cycle of the biosphere and to predicting the impacts of humancaused changes in climate, land use, and biodiversity (1-3). Although it has long been recognized that different kinds of organisms play important roles in the processing of energy and materials in ecosystems, existing treatments are incomplete. Most studies have focused on particular trophic levels, such as primary producers or herbivores, specific ecosystem types, such as tropical forest or pelagic marine, or single species, such as top predators or ecosystem engineers (4-14). Still missing is a simple mechanistic theory that can make precise, quantitative predictions based on the mechanistic relationships between traits of the organisms in the different trophic levels and whole-ecosystem properties, such as carbon flux or recycling.Two main t...

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“…Second, the physicalist background of the Odums' systems ecology stands in contradiction to emergentist ontological assumptions. For instance, they consider the outcome of the Eniwetok Atoll energy evaluation (Odum and Odum 1955;Odum 1977) to be an emergent property. Thus, they are considering ecological systems as structured physical entities, forgetting that their specificities are not reducible to the physical domain.…”

Section: From Organicism To the Oxymoronic "Reductionist Holism" Of Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Multifaceted Ecology Between Organicism, Emergentism and Reductionism

Bergandi

2011

Ecology Revisited

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The classical holism-reductionism debate, which has been of major importance to the development of ecological theory and methodology, is an epistemological patchwork. At any moment, there is a risk of it slipping into an incoherent, chaotic Tower of Babel. Yet philosophy, like the sciences, requires that words and their correlative concepts be used rigorously and univocally. The prevalent use of everyday language in the holism-reductionism issue may give a false impression regarding its underlying clarity and coherence. In reality, the conceptual categories underlying the debate have yet to be accurately defined and consistently used. There is a need to map out a clear conceptual, logical and epistemological framework. To this end, we propose a minimalist epistemological foundation. The issue is easier to grasp if we keep in mind that holism generally represents the ontological background of emergentism, but does not necessarily coincide with it. We therefore speak in very loose terms of the "holism-reductionism" debate, although it would really be better characterised by the terms emergentism and reductionism. The confrontation between these antagonistic paradigms unfolds at various semantic and operational levels. In definitional terms, there is not just emergentism and reductionism, but various kinds of emergentisms and reductionisms.In fact, Ayala (1974; see also Ruse 1988;Mayr 1988;Beckermann et al. 1992;Jones 2000) have proposed a now classic trilogy among various semantic domains -ontology, methodology and epistemology. This trilogy has been used as a kind of epistemological screen to interpret the reductionist field. It is just as meaningful and useful, however, to apply the same trilogy to the emergentist field. By revealing the basic assumptions of each, we should be better able to understand the points that are similar and shared, as well as the incommensurable ones.The first question regarding the emergentism and reductionism debate concerns the type of explanation the sciences are seeking. At present in the sciences -from physics to the human sciences -the ontological and epistemological foundation is essentially naturalistic and materialistic, meaning that all natural (or social) objects, events and processes can be understood without reference to extra-or supernatural (vitalistic or theological) entities,

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Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll

Cited by 840 publications

References 12 publications

Production of Particulate Organic Matter by the Reef on Kavaratti Atoll (Laccadives)

Production of Particulate Organic Matter by the Reef on Kavaratti Atoll (Laccadives)

Metabolic theory predicts whole-ecosystem properties

Multifaceted Ecology Between Organicism, Emergentism and Reductionism

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