Can size distributions of European lake fish communities be predicted by trophic positions of their fish species?

ABSTRACT: An organism's body size plays an important role in ecological interactions such as predator-prey relationships. As predators are typically larger than their prey, this often leads to a strong positive relationship between body size and trophic position in aquatic ecosystems. The distribution of body sizes in a community can thus be an indicator of the strengths of predator-prey interactions. The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the relationship between fish body size distribution and trophic position in a wide range of European lakes. We used quantile regression to examine the relationship between fish species' trophic position and their log-transformed maximum body mass for 48 fish species found in 235 European lakes. Subsequently, we examined whether the slopes of the cont

SUBMITTER: van Dorst RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9272069 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature