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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Rescaling the trophic structure of marine food webs
Ecology Letters, Volume 17, No. 2, Year 2014
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Description
Measures of trophic position (TP) are critical for understanding food web interactions and human-mediated ecosystem disturbance. Nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) provide a powerful tool to estimate TP but are limited by a pragmatic assumption that isotope discrimination is constant (change in δ15N between predator and prey, Δ15N = 3.4‰), resulting in an additive framework that omits known Δ15N variation. Through meta-analysis, we determine narrowing discrimination from an empirical linear relationship between experimental Δ15N and δ15N values of prey consumed. The resulting scaled Δ15N framework estimated reliable TPs of zooplanktivores to tertiary piscivores congruent with known feeding relationships that radically alters the conventional structure of marine food webs. Apex predator TP estimates were markedly higher than currently assumed by whole-ecosystem models, indicating perceived food webs have been truncated and species-interactions over simplified. The scaled Δ15N framework will greatly improve the accuracy of trophic estimates widely used in ecosystem-based management. © 2013 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd1.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd2.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd3.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd4.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd5.docx
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd6.doc
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC3912912/bin/ele0017-0239-sd7.docx
Authors & Co-Authors
Hussey, Nigel Edward
Canada, Windsor
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research
MacNeil, M. Aaron
Australia, Townsville
Australian Institute of Marine Science
Mcmeans, Bailey C.
Canada, Windsor
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research
South Africa, Umhlanga Rocks
Natal Sharks Board
Olin, Jill A.
Canada, Windsor
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research
South Africa, Durban
University of Kwazulu-natal
Dudley, Sheldon F.J.
South Africa, Durban
Oceanographic Research Institute
Canada, Guelph
University of Guelph
United States, Baton Rouge
Louisiana State University
Cliff, Geremy
Canada, Guelph
University of Guelph
United States, Baton Rouge
Louisiana State University
Wintner, Sabine P.
Canada, Guelph
University of Guelph
United States, Baton Rouge
Louisiana State University
Fennessy, Sean Thomas
Unknown Affiliation
Fisk, Aaron Thomas
Canada, Windsor
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research
Statistics
Citations: 397
Authors: 9
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/ele.12226
ISSN:
1461023X
e-ISSN:
14610248
Research Areas
Food Security
Study Approach
Systematic review