Unifying ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory to predict production and trophic transfer in a marine planktonic food web


Contact
stefanie.moorthi [ at ] uni-oldenburg.de

Abstract

<jats:p>Two ecological frameworks have been used to explain multitrophic interactions, but rarely in combination: (i) ecological stoichiometry (ES), explaining consumption rates in response to consumers' demand and prey's nutrient content; and (ii) metabolic theory of ecology (MTE), proposing that temperature and body mass affect metabolic rates, growth and consumption rates. Here we combined both, ES and MTE to investigate interactive effects of phytoplankton prey stoichiometry, temperature and zooplankton consumer body mass on consumer grazing rates and production in a microcosm experiment. A simple model integrating parameters from both frameworks was used to predict interactive effects of temperature and nutrient conditions on consumer performance. Overall, model predictions reflected experimental patterns well: consumer grazing rates and production increased with temperature, as could be expected based on MTE. With decreasing algal food quality, grazing rates increased due to compensatory feeding, while consumer growth rates and final biovolume decreased. Nutrient effects on consumer biovolume increased with increasing temperature, while nutrient effects on grazing rates decreased. Highly interactive effects of temperature and nutrient supply indicate that combining the frameworks of ES and MTE is highly important to enhance our ability to predict ecosystem functioning in the context of global change.</jats:p>



Item Type
Article
Authors
Divisions
Primary Division
Primary Topic
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
58006
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2015.0270

Cite as
Moorthi, S. D. , Schmitt, J. A. , Ryabov, A. , Tsakalakis, I. , Blasius, B. , Prelle, L. , Tiedemann, M. and Hodapp, D. (2016): Unifying ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory to predict production and trophic transfer in a marine planktonic food web , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 371 (1694), p. 20150270 . doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0270


Download
[thumbnail of Moorthi_etal2016.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Moorthi_etal2016.pdf

Download (489kB) | Preview

Share
Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email


Citation


Actions
Edit Item Edit Item