TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecosystem status and functioning
T2 - Searching for rules of thumb using an intersite comparison of food-web models of Northeast Atlantic continental shelves
AU - Lassalle, Géraldine
AU - Lobry, Jérémy
AU - Le Loc'h, François
AU - Mackinson, Steven
AU - Sanchez, Francisco
AU - Tomczak, Maciej Tomasz
AU - Niquil, Nathalie
N1 - Funding Information:
This research has been supported by EU FP7 grant FACTS (Forage Fish Interactions; http://www.facts-project.eu), grant agreement no. 244 966, and by the large collaborative European project REPRODUCE (EraNet-MariFish, WP7). Defra projects M1102 and M1228 supported contributions from Cefas.
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - This work aimed to provide a better understanding of how the structure and function of marine ecosystems and trophic control mechanisms influence their response to perturbations. Comparative analysis of Ecopath models of four Northeast Atlantic ecosystems was used to search for rules of thumb defining the similarities and differences between them. Ecosystem indicators, related to the ecology of species interactions, were derived from these models and compared. Two main questions were addressed. (i) What are the main energy pathways and mechanisms of control? (ii) Do these ecosystems exhibit the widespread and potentially stabilizing food-web structure such that top predators couple distinct energy pathways? A strong bentho-pelagic coupling operated over the Bay of Biscay Shelf, while energy reached higher trophic levels mostly through pelagic compartments, in northern areas. Zooplankton was demonstrated to be trophically important in all ecosystems, acting as a regulator of the abundance of small pelagic fish. A latitudinal pattern in flow control was highlighted by this analysis, with a significant contribution of top-down effect at higher latitudes. This top-down control of the Baltic Sea, combined with the fact that this ecosystem did not exhibit the potentially stabilizing two-channel structure, suggested a non-stable environment.
AB - This work aimed to provide a better understanding of how the structure and function of marine ecosystems and trophic control mechanisms influence their response to perturbations. Comparative analysis of Ecopath models of four Northeast Atlantic ecosystems was used to search for rules of thumb defining the similarities and differences between them. Ecosystem indicators, related to the ecology of species interactions, were derived from these models and compared. Two main questions were addressed. (i) What are the main energy pathways and mechanisms of control? (ii) Do these ecosystems exhibit the widespread and potentially stabilizing food-web structure such that top predators couple distinct energy pathways? A strong bentho-pelagic coupling operated over the Bay of Biscay Shelf, while energy reached higher trophic levels mostly through pelagic compartments, in northern areas. Zooplankton was demonstrated to be trophically important in all ecosystems, acting as a regulator of the abundance of small pelagic fish. A latitudinal pattern in flow control was highlighted by this analysis, with a significant contribution of top-down effect at higher latitudes. This top-down control of the Baltic Sea, combined with the fact that this ecosystem did not exhibit the potentially stabilizing two-channel structure, suggested a non-stable environment.
KW - Ecopath with Ecosim
KW - comparative studies
KW - ecosystem model
KW - graphical analysis
KW - stability
KW - trophic structure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871249960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/icesjms/fss168
DO - 10.1093/icesjms/fss168
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1054-3139
VL - 70
SP - 135
EP - 149
JO - ICES Journal of Marine Science
JF - ICES Journal of Marine Science
IS - 1
ER -