Bottom-up behaviourally mediated trophic cascades in plankton food webs.

ABSTRACT: Our traditional view of the interactions between marine organisms is conceptualized as food webs where species interact with one another mainly via direct consumption. However, recent research suggests that understudied non-consumptive interactions, such as behaviourally mediated indirect interactions (BMIIs), can influence marine ecosystems as much as consumptive effects. Here, we show, to our knowledge, the first experimental evidence and quantification of bottom-up BMIIs in plankton food webs. We used observational, modelling and experimental approaches to investigate how behavioural responses to resource availability influence predation mortality on grazers with different foraging strategies (ambushing versus active foraging). A three-level food chain was used: phytoplankton as resourc

SUBMITTER: van Someren Greve H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6408594 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature