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Flood disturbance, algal productivity, and interannual variation in food chain length
Author(s) -
Marks Jane C.,
Power Mary E.,
Parker Michael S.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
oikos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1600-0706
pISSN - 0030-1299
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.900103.x
Subject(s) - productivity , trophic level , food chain , biomass (ecology) , algae , environmental science , disturbance (geology) , ecology , predation , floodplain , food web , flood myth , biology , geography , macroeconomics , archaeology , economics , paleontology
The length of a river food chain changed from year to year, shifting with the hydrologic regime. During drought years, grazers suppressed algae across a nutrient gradient, while predators were functionally unimportant. Following flood disturbance, predators suppressed grazers, releasing algae. These results suggest that hydrologic regime, rather than productivity, determines the functional length of this river food chain. Within years, algae and grazer biomass responded to an experimental productivity gradient in patterns predicted by simple trophic models that assume efficient energy transfer. Understanding differences among species within trophic levels, however, was crucial in delineating the controlling interactions.