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The scaling of biomass variance across trophic levels in stream species communities: a macroecological approach

  • MEIOFAUNA IN FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

Much has been published about different aspects of body-size distribution resting on the assumptions of metabolic scaling, although a number of studies in aquatic ecosystems have questioned its generality. This study considers the effects of individual body-mass and biomass variability on scaling properties of multi-species communities (protists, meio- and macroinvertebrates), and their intrinsic variations in assemblage structure. We examine how size traits within communities are distributed on local and regional scales and assess the potential sources of variation affecting whole ecosystems. Our results, built upon seven river catchment communities including 1204 species, revealed micro-meiofauna-dominated biomass distributions driven by stochastic hydrophysical processes that induce a fractal fluctuation scaling, irrespective of trophic levels, shaping local and regional scaling relations. Fractal-scaling differences are largely generated by the frequency of high flow events that influence the biomass assemblage configurations, which are significantly better represented by the Power Fraction model compared to single statistical random models. We conclude that environmental random variability contributes to the decoupling of total biomass and body mass per site from assemblage size, resulting in scale-invariant body-size traits among assemblages and systems. Generally, these findings emphasize that ignoring small-sized species and, thus, the wide range of body sizes makes accurate ecological model predictions, impossible.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by grants from NERC (NER/A/S/2001/00566), the Royal Society, and in parts from the Austrian Science Fund FWF: P15597-B03. We thank Dr C. Fesl, Mr R. Niederreiter and E. Lanzenberger for their assistance and suggestions during field and lab work. We also appreciate the comments and helpful suggestions of two anonymous referees on an earlier draft of the MS.

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  1. P. E. Schmid

    Present address: PJSchmid Scientific Consulting, PO Box 274, Ancud, Chiloé, Chile

  2. J. M. Schmid-Araya

    Present address: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Freshwater Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    P. E. Schmid

  2. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

    J. M. Schmid-Araya

  3. AMBL-Kyushu University, Reihoku, Amakusa, Japan

    M. Tokeshi

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Schmid, P.E., Schmid-Araya, J.M. & Tokeshi, M. The scaling of biomass variance across trophic levels in stream species communities: a macroecological approach. Hydrobiologia 847, 2705–2723 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04239-5

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