Ecology
Ecology
3 years ago

Does energy flux predict density-dependence? An empirical field test.

Marshall, Ghedini, White
Changes in population density alter the availability, acquisition and expenditure of resources by individuals, and consequently their contribution to the flux of energy in a system. Whilst both negative and positive density-dependence have been well studied in natural populations, we are yet to estimate the underlying energy flows that generate these patterns and the ambivalent effects of density make prediction difficult. Ultimately, density-dependence should emerge from the effects of conspecifics on rates of energy intake (feeding) and expenditure (metabolism) at the organismal level, thus determining the discretionary energy available for growth. Using a model system of colonial marine invertebrates, we measured feeding and metabolic rates across a range of population densities to calculate how discretionary energy per colony changes with density and test whether this energy predicts observed patterns in organismal size across densities. We found that both feeding and metabolic rates decline with density but that feeding declines faster, and that this discrepancy is the source of density-dependent reductions in individual growth. Importantly, we could predict the size of our focal organisms after 8 weeks in the field based on our estimates of energy intake and expenditure. The effects of density on both energy intake and expenditure overwhelmed the effects of body size; even though higher density populations had smaller colonies (with higher mass-specific biological rates), density effects meant that these smaller colonies had lower mass-specific rates overall. Thus, to predict the contribution of organisms to the flux of energy in populations it seems necessary not only to quantify how rates of energy intake and expenditure scale with body size, but also how they scale with density given that this ecological constraint can be a stronger driver of energy use than the physiological constraint of body size. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Publisher URL: http://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2033

DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2033

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.