Body size variation in aquatic consumers causes pervasive community effects, independent of mean body size.

ABSTRACT: Intraspecific phenotypic variation is a significant component of biodiversity. Body size, for example, is variable and critical for structuring communities. We need to understand how homogenous and variably sized populations differ in their ecological responses or effects if we are to have a robust understanding of communities. We manipulated body size variation in consumer (tadpole) populations in mesocosms (both with and without predators), keeping mean size and density of these consumers constant. Size-variable consumer populations exhibited stronger antipredator responses (reduced activity), which had a cascading effect of increasing the biomass of the consumer's resources. Predators foraged less when consumers were variable in size, and this may have mediated the differential effects

SUBMITTER: Carlson BE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5723604 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature