Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean.

ABSTRACT: Understanding regional-scale food web structure in the Southern Ocean is critical to informing fisheries management and assessments of climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems and ecosystem services. Historically, a large component of Southern Ocean ecosystem research has focused on Antarctic krill, which provide a short, highly efficient food chain, linking primary producers to higher trophic levels. Over the last 15 years, the presence of alternative energy pathways has been identified and hypotheses on their relative importance in different regions raised. Using the largest circumpolar dietary database ever compiled, we tested these hypotheses using an empirical circumpolar comparison of food webs across the four major regions/sectors of the Southern Ocean (defined as south o

SUBMITTER: McCormack SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7790630 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature