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Effects of organism size and community composition on ecosystem functioning
Author(s) -
Long Zachary T.,
Morin Peter J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00830.x
Subject(s) - species richness , ecosystem , biomass (ecology) , ecology , biology , organism , respiration , biodiversity , botany , paleontology
We tested (1) if the size of dominant species influenced ecosystem functioning in food webs consisting of bacteria, algae, and protozoa; (2) whether those effects changed in importance through time; and (3) how those effects compared with differences in diversity among experimental food webs. We constructed food webs using two size fractions of organisms that differed in individual mass by approximately two orders of magnitude. We measured total biomass and respiration (total CO 2 production) as two aspects of ecosystem functioning. We also compared these size‐dependent patterns in functioning across two levels of species richness. Initially, organism size strongly influenced total community biomass. With time, however, biomass and respiration eventually converged in communities dominated by large or small species. We conclude that after sufficient time for community development any differences in ecosystem functioning resulted from differences in community composition, including species richness, but not the size of the dominant organisms.