Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean
Abstract Understanding regional‐scale food web structure in the Southern Ocean is critical to informing fisheries management and assessments of climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems and ecosystem services. Historically, a large component of Southern Ocean ecosystem research has focused...
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crwiley:10.1002/ece3.7017 2024-06-02T07:58:01+00:00 Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean McCormack, Stacey A. Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica Trebilco, Rowan Blanchard, Julia L. Raymond, Ben Constable, Andrew 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7017 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.7017 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ece3.7017 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ecology and Evolution volume 11, issue 1, page 227-241 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7017 2024-05-03T10:47:56Z Abstract Understanding regional‐scale food web structure in the Southern Ocean is critical to informing fisheries management and assessments of climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems and ecosystem services. Historically, a large component of Southern Ocean ecosystem research has focused on Antarctic krill, which provide a short, highly efficient food chain, linking primary producers to higher trophic levels. Over the last 15 years, the presence of alternative energy pathways has been identified and hypotheses on their relative importance in different regions raised. Using the largest circumpolar dietary database ever compiled, we tested these hypotheses using an empirical circumpolar comparison of food webs across the four major regions/sectors of the Southern Ocean (defined as south of 40°S) within the austral summer period. We used network analyses and generalizations of taxonomic food web structure to confirm that while Antarctic krill are dominant as the mid‐trophic level for the Atlantic and East Pacific food webs (including the Scotia Arc and Western Antarctic Peninsula), mesopelagic fish and other krill species are dominant contributors to predator diets in the Indian and West Pacific regions (East Antarctica and the Ross Sea). We also highlight how tracking data and habitat modeling for mobile top predators in the Southern Ocean show that these species integrate food webs over large regional scales. Our study provides a quantitative assessment, based on field observations, of the degree of regional differentiation in Southern Ocean food webs and the relative importance of alternative energy pathways between regions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Wiley Online Library Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral East Antarctica Indian Pacific Ross Sea Southern Ocean Ecology and Evolution 11 1 227 241 |
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English |
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Abstract Understanding regional‐scale food web structure in the Southern Ocean is critical to informing fisheries management and assessments of climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems and ecosystem services. Historically, a large component of Southern Ocean ecosystem research has focused on Antarctic krill, which provide a short, highly efficient food chain, linking primary producers to higher trophic levels. Over the last 15 years, the presence of alternative energy pathways has been identified and hypotheses on their relative importance in different regions raised. Using the largest circumpolar dietary database ever compiled, we tested these hypotheses using an empirical circumpolar comparison of food webs across the four major regions/sectors of the Southern Ocean (defined as south of 40°S) within the austral summer period. We used network analyses and generalizations of taxonomic food web structure to confirm that while Antarctic krill are dominant as the mid‐trophic level for the Atlantic and East Pacific food webs (including the Scotia Arc and Western Antarctic Peninsula), mesopelagic fish and other krill species are dominant contributors to predator diets in the Indian and West Pacific regions (East Antarctica and the Ross Sea). We also highlight how tracking data and habitat modeling for mobile top predators in the Southern Ocean show that these species integrate food webs over large regional scales. Our study provides a quantitative assessment, based on field observations, of the degree of regional differentiation in Southern Ocean food webs and the relative importance of alternative energy pathways between regions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McCormack, Stacey A. Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica Trebilco, Rowan Blanchard, Julia L. Raymond, Ben Constable, Andrew |
spellingShingle |
McCormack, Stacey A. Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica Trebilco, Rowan Blanchard, Julia L. Raymond, Ben Constable, Andrew Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
McCormack, Stacey A. Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica Trebilco, Rowan Blanchard, Julia L. Raymond, Ben Constable, Andrew |
author_sort |
McCormack, Stacey A. |
title |
Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the southern ocean |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7017 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.7017 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ece3.7017 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral East Antarctica Indian Pacific Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral East Antarctica Indian Pacific Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica East Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution volume 11, issue 1, page 227-241 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7017 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
227 |
op_container_end_page |
241 |
_version_ |
1800741271834198016 |