Journal Article

Global patterns in predator–prey size relationships reveal size dependency of trophic transfer efficiency

Barnes, Carolyn, Jennings, Simon, Maxwell, David, Reuman, Daniel C.

2010

Overview

Predator–prey body size relationships influence food chain length, trophic structure, transfer efficiency, interaction strength, and the bioaccumulation of contaminants. Improved quantification of these relationships and their response to the environment is needed to parameterize food web models and describe food web structure and function. A compiled data set comprising 29 582 records of individual prey eaten at 21 locations by individual predators that spanned 10 orders of magnitude in mass and lived in marine environments ranging from the poles to the tropics was used to investigate the influence of predator size and environment on predator and prey size relationships. Linear mixed effects models demonstrated that predator–prey mass ratios (PPMR) increased with predator mass. The amount of the increase varied among locations and predator species and individuals but was not significantly influenced by temperature, latitude, depth, or primary production. Increases in PPMR with predator mass implied nonlinear relationships between log body mass and trophic level and reductions in transfer efficiency with increasing body size. The results suggest that very general rules determine dominant trends in PPMR in diverse marine ecosystems, leading to the ubiquity of size‐based trophic structuring and the consistency of observed relationships between the relative abundance of individuals and their body size.

• Publisher: Ecological Society of America
• Subject: Agnatha. Pisces / Animal and plant ecology / Animal ecology / Animal physiology / Animal, plant and microbial ecology / Animals / Average linear density / Bioaccumulation / Biodiversity / Biological and medical sciences / Biomass / body mass / Body Size / consumer–resource / Contaminants / data collection / Decapodiformes - physiology / Ecosystems / feeding interaction / fish / Fishes - physiology / Food Chain / Food chains / food web / Food webs / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / General aspects / latitude / Marine / Marine ecology / Marine ecosystems / Marine environment / Oceans and Seas / Predation / Predators / Predatory Behavior / predator–prey / Prey / Primary production / primary productivity / Relative abundance / size spectra / temperature / transfer efficiency / trophic level / Trophic levels / Tropical environments / tropics / Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution