Resource Patchiness as a Resolution to the Food Paradox in the Sea.
Am Nat
; 203(1): 1-13, 2024 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38207143
ABSTRACT
AbstractAverage concentrations of biota in the ocean are low, presenting a critical problem for ocean consumers. High-resolution sampling, however, demonstrates that the ocean is peppered with narrow hot spots of organism activity. To determine whether these resource aggregations could provide a significant solution to the ocean's food paradox, a conceptual graphical model was developed that facilitates comparisons of the role of patchiness in predator-prey interactions across taxa, size scales, and ecosystems. The model predicts that predators are more reliant on aggregated resources for foraging success when the average concentrations of resources is low, the size discrepancy between predator and prey is great, the predator has a high metabolic rate, and/or the predator's foraging time is limited. Size structure differences between marine and terrestrial food webs and a vast disparity in the overall mean density of their resources lead to the conclusion that high-density aggregations of prey are much more important to the survival of oceanic predators than their terrestrial counterparts, shaping the foraging decisions that are available to an individual and setting the stage on which evolutionary pressures can act. Patches of plenty may be rare, but they play an outsized role in behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary processes, particularly in the sea.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Conducta Predatoria
/
Ecosistema
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am Nat
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article