Biomass encounter rates limit the size scaling of feeding interactions.

ABSTRACT: The rate that consumers encounter resources in space necessarily limits the strength of feeding interactions that shape ecosystems. To explore the link between encounters and feeding, we first compiled the largest available dataset of interactions in the marine benthos by extracting data from published studies and generating new data. These data indicate that the size-scaling of feeding interactions varies among consumer groups using different strategies (passive or active) to encounter different resource types (mobile or static), with filter feeders exhibiting the weakest feeding interactions. Next, we used these data to develop an agent-based model of resource biomass encounter rates, underpinned by consumer encounter strategy and resource biomass density. Our model demonstrates that pas

SUBMITTER: Barrios-O'Neill D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852157 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature