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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Published in:Ecology and Evolution
Main Authors: McCormack, Stacey A., Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica, Trebilco, Rowan, Blanchard, Julia L., Raymond, Ben, Constable, Andrew
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020
Subjects:
Online Access: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
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spelling 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
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
description 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
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