Body size, energy use and ecological dominance

Nature ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 328 (6126) ◽  
pp. 117-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID GRIFFITHS
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ecological Dominance

scholarly journals Metabolic dominance of bivalves predates brachiopod diversity decline by more than 150 million years

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1783) ◽  
pp. 20133122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Payne ◽  
Noel A. Heim ◽  
Matthew L. Knope ◽  
Craig R. McClain
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Activity ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Numerical Abundance ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
Ecological Dominance ◽  
Size Data

Brachiopods and bivalves feed in similar ways and have occupied the same environments through geological time, but brachiopods were far more diverse and abundant in the Palaeozoic whereas bivalves dominate the post-Palaeozoic, suggesting a transition in ecological dominance 250 Ma. However, diversity and abundance data alone may not adequately describe key changes in ecosystem function, such as metabolic activity. Here, we use newly compiled body size data for 6066 genera of bivalves and brachiopods to calculate metabolic rates and revisit this question from the perspective of energy use, finding that bivalves already accounted for a larger share of metabolic activity in Palaeozoic oceans. We also find that the metabolic activity of bivalves has increased by more than two orders of magnitude over this interval, whereas brachiopod metabolic activity has declined by more than 50%. Consequently, the increase in bivalve energy metabolism must have occurred via the acquisition of new food resources rather than through the displacement of brachiopods. The canonical view of a mid-Phanerozoic transition from brachiopod to bivalve dominance results from a focus on taxonomic diversity and numerical abundance as measures of ecological importance. From a metabolic perspective, the oceans have always belonged to the clams.

Body size, energy use and ecological dominance

Nature ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 328 (6126) ◽  
pp. 118-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES H. BROWN ◽  
BRIAN A. MAURER
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ecological Dominance

Body size, energetics, and the Ordovician restructuring of marine ecosystems

Paleobiology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Finnegan ◽  
Mary L. Droser
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Widespread Occurrence ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Shallow Subtidal ◽  
Ecological Dominance ◽  
Benthic Ecosystems

Major shifts in ecological dominance are one of the most conspicuous but poorly understood features of the fossil record. Here we examine one of the most prominent such shifts, the Ordovician shift from trilobite to brachiopod dominance of benthic ecosystems. Using an integrated database of high-resolution paleoecological samples and body size data, we show that while the average local richness and relative abundance of trilobites declined significantly through the Ordovician, the estimated standing biomass of trilobites, and by implication the amount of energy that they used, remained relatively invariant. This is attributable to an increase in the average body size of trilobite species in our data set, and especially to the widespread occurrence of the exceptionally large Middle-Late Ordovician trilobite genus Isotelus. Brachiopods increase in both mean body size and relative abundance throughout the Ordovician, so that estimates of brachiopod biomass and energetic use increase substantially between the Early and Late Ordovician. Although the data set includes a range of depositional environments, similar trends are observed in both shallow subtidal and deep subtidal settings. These results suggest that diversification of the Paleozoic Fauna did not come at the energetic expense of the Cambrian Fauna. The declining relative abundance of trilobites may reflect a combination of numerical dilution and the necessary energetic trade-offs between body size and abundance.

Body Size and Energy Use in Termites (Isoptera): The Responses of Soil Feeders and Wood Feeders Differ in a Tropical Forest Assemblage

Oikos ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Eggleton ◽  
Richard G. Davies ◽  
David E. Bignell
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Energy Use

COUPLING ENERGY USE, BODY SIZE, AND DIVERSITY DURING THE PLIO-PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTION EVENT

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Felipe Opazo ◽  
◽  
Michal Kowalewski ◽  
Roger W. Portell ◽  
Jennifer L. Sliko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Coupling Energy ◽  
Extinction Event

Body Size and Density: The Limits to Biomass and Energy Use

Oikos ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim M. Blackburn ◽  
Kevin J. Gaston
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use

Body size, ecological dominance and Cope's rule

Nature ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 324 (6094) ◽  
pp. 248-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Brown ◽  
Brian A. Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Ecological Dominance ◽  
Cope’S Rule

scholarly journals BODY SIZE, ENERGY USE, AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF SMALL MAMMALS

Ecology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 1407-1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Morgan Ernest
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Energy Use

Population energy use scales positively with body size in natural aquatic microcosms

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Hayward ◽  
Maaheen Khalid ◽  
Jurek Kolasa
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Aquatic Microcosms

scholarly journals All Sizes Fit the Red Queen

Paleobiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-494
Author(s):  
Indrė Žliobaitė ◽  
Mikael Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Metabolic Scaling ◽  
Physiological Time ◽  
Time Modeling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
The Red Queen

AbstractThe Red Queen's hypothesis portrays evolution as a never-ending competition for expansive energy, where one species’ gain is another species’ loss. The Red Queen is neutral with respect to body size, implying that neither small nor large species have a universal competitive advantage. Here we ask whether, and if so how, the Red Queen's hypothesis really can accommodate differences in body size. The maximum population growth in ecology clearly depends on body size—the smaller the species, the shorter the generation length, and the faster it can expand given sufficient opportunity. On the other hand, large species are more efficient in energy use due to metabolic scaling and can maintain more biomass with the same energy. The advantage of shorter generation makes a wide range of body sizes competitive, yet large species do not take over. We analytically show that individuals consume energy and reproduce in physiological time, but need to compete for energy in real time. The Red Queen, through adaptive evolution of populations, balances the pressures of real and physiological time. Modeling competition for energy as a proportional prize contest from economics, we further show that Red Queen's zero-sum game can generate unimodal hat-like patterns of species rise and decline that can be neutral in relation to body size.

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