Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective最新文献

{"title":"Population Dynamics of a Rare Species of Burrowing Shrimp Axianassa darrylfelderi Anker & Lazarus, 2015 in the Pérula Estuary, Jalisco, Mexico","authors":"Jocelyn Jasso,&nbsp;Ignacio Cáceres,&nbsp;Manuel Ayón-Parente","doi":"10.1111/maec.70053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70053","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p><i>Axianassa darrylfelderi</i> is a rare species of mud shrimp. Recently, it was discovered in the Mexican Central Pacific; therefore, it is exposed to the strong climate variability of this ecoregion. This study hypothesized that the population structure and dynamics of <i>A. darrylfelderi</i> are affected by variations in environmental conditions. The organisms were collected during 2014, 2015, and 2018—years that featured The Blob and El Niño Southern Oscillation events. The variables temperature, precipitation, and chlorophyll-α concentration did not strongly influence the structure and fecundity but did have a strong influence on the population dynamics. Individual growth was seasonal with slow phases in rainy periods; mortality was high and began at small sizes attributed to estuary runoff, while somatic production was supported by large and abundant organisms that have more stable burrows that require less maintenance. <i>A. darrylfelderi</i> presented similar parameters to other burrowing shrimp, and these vary due to the synergy of the environmental variables of each season.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145224074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climatic Oscillations and Copepod Interannual Variation Off Central Algeria (SW Mediterranean Sea)","authors":"Lilia Mellak,&nbsp;Aziz Hafferssas,&nbsp;Aldjia Kherchouche-Ait Ouadour","doi":"10.1111/maec.70042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70042","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The biodiversity of copepod populations was studied over a 4-year period (2014–2017) in Bou Ismail and Algiers Bays through qualitative and quantitative monitoring. The results support three objectives: (i) the seasonality of copepod abundance subject to temperature, salinity, and food availability (Chl a concentrations) regulations; (ii) the trophodynamics of copepods as prey for gelatinous zooplankton and jellyfish; and (iii) the impact of climate on species abundance patterns. A total of 53 copepod species are recorded and encompass 3 orders (calanoida, cyclopoida and harpacticoida), 20 families, and 31 genera. These are either perennial with Atlantic characters (11 species), neritic (11 species) or bathymetric migrants (14 species). The rare species (Fi &lt; 25%) are qualitatively important (22 species). The abundances are subject to geographical and temporal variability. The functioning of the ecosystems is regulated by characteristic populations, so-called abundant species <i>Temora stylifera, Oithona plumifera, Nannocalanus minor, Neocalanus gracilis, Subeucalanus elongatus, S</i><i>. monachus</i><i>, Centropages typicus, C</i><i>. hamatus</i><i>, Microcalanus pygmaeus, Mecynocera clausi, Agestus flaccus, A</i><i>. limbatus</i><i>, Oncaea mediterranea, Xanthocalanus mixtus, Triconia minuta</i>). By using a Principal Components Analysis, their increase is characterized by a seasonality that is strongly correlated with hydrological (temperature, salinity and chlorophyll <i>a</i>), climatic (NAO index) variations, and is also involved in prey–predator relationships where 4 seasonal trends are described. Multimodal Growth Populations (MGP; <i>Oithona plumifera</i> and <i>Temora stylifera</i>) have affinities for all seasons. Trimodal Growth Populations (TGP; <i>N. minor</i> and <i>O. mediterranea</i>) have winter, spring, and summer affinities. Bimodal Growth Populations (BGP; in spring and summer for <i>M. clausi</i> and <i>E. elongatus elongatus</i> and in winter and spring for <i>S. monachus</i>)<i>.</i> Unimodal Growth Populations (UGP; in spring for <i>M. pygmaeus, N</i><i>. gracilis</i><i>, A. flaccus, A. limbatus, C. hamatus, C</i><i>. typicus</i><i>, X. mixtus</i> and <i>T. minuta</i>). The qualitative distributions of richness species and their occurrence did not show any seasonality.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145101626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drivers of Coral and Sponge Community Composition and Size Structure Revealed With Cumulative Abundance Profiles","authors":"Johanne Vad,&nbsp;Jason Cleland,&nbsp;Laurence H. De Clippele,&nbsp;Evert de Froe,&nbsp;Georgios Kazanidis,&nbsp;Sabena Blackbird,&nbsp;Dick Van Oevelen,&nbsp;Erica Head,&nbsp;Igor Yashayaev,&nbsp;Ellen Kenchington,&nbsp;Bárbara de Moura Neves,&nbsp;Evan Edinger,&nbsp;David Coté,&nbsp;J. Murray Roberts","doi":"10.1111/maec.70030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70030","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Deep-sea corals and sponges form ecologically significant habitats that support biodiversity hotspots and contribute to important ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling as well as benthic-pelagic coupling. However, quantifying their contributions to ecosystem functioning requires examination not only of the fine spatial distribution of community composition but also community size structure, because larger individuals are expected to contribute more to ecosystem functions than smaller ones. Here we create novel cumulative abundance profiles (CAPs) by combining body size structure with species abundance data to identify ecological drivers of sponge and coral community composition and size structure. Data were collected from 226 drop camera images captured near Saglek Bank, on the northern Labrador shelf and upper slope in the northwest Atlantic. The density of four coral and 17 sponge morphospecies were recorded from each image. The surface area covered by coral and sponge specimens was measured (1458 measurements in total) and converted to size estimates using data from live specimens collected with a rock dredge. Cumulative abundance profiles were then constructed and combined with cluster analysis to identify distinct community assemblages. In addition, distance-based redundancy analysis was used to identify environmental drivers influencing cluster community composition and/or size structure. Finally, organic carbon turnover was calculated for each cluster using published respiration data. Three assemblages were identified with differing composition and size structures. One of these was characterized by large coral and sponge morphospecies and individuals. The spatial distribution of this cluster was controlled by interactions between substrate type, terrain position index (TPI) and orientation of the slope (eastness). When analysing composition or size structure separately, dissolved oxygen and current speed respectively were also identified as key parameters. This finding indicates that substrate type and TPI influence the presence of coral and sponges in the study area, while dissolved oxygen may constrain which morphospecies are present and bottom currents restrict the size of individuals. As predicted, high levels of carbon turnover were driven by large sponge and coral individuals, likely maintained in part by the sponge loop in which sponges recycle dissolved organic matter into particulate organic matter. This study gives the first demonstration of how CAPs can be used to analyse spatial variation in deep-sea benthic community composition and size structure and appropriately quantify contribution to ecosystem functions such as carbon turnover.</p>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maec.70030","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145037564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of Diatoms to the Addition of Bamboo in the Eastern Arabian Sea","authors":"Suhas Shetye,&nbsp;Mayuri Raut,&nbsp;Rounak Thakur,&nbsp;Sarvesh Vaigankar,&nbsp;Anoop Babu,&nbsp;Anil Pratihary,&nbsp;Aditya Kapuriya,&nbsp;Siby Kurian,&nbsp;Damodar Shenoy,&nbsp;Mangesh Gauns","doi":"10.1111/maec.70045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70045","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Nutrient availability limits phytoplankton growth throughout much of the global ocean, and this has led scientists to consider fertilizing the ocean with phytoplankton growth-limiting nutrients. We studied the response of phytoplankton to the addition of natural materials such as rice husk and bamboo leaves through field mesocosm experiments. Rice husk released only SiO₄⁴⁻ while the bamboo leaves released SiO₄⁴⁻ and also NH₄⁺, which led to a phytoplankton community shift from picophytoplankton to microphytoplankton. The bamboo addition led to a diatom bloom with an increase in diatom abundance, and the supply of nutrients particularly benefited <i>Nitzschia</i> spp., along with <i>Navicula</i> spp., <i>Chaetoceros</i> spp., <i>Leptocylindrus</i> spp., and <i>Pseudo-nitzschia</i> spp. Such a proliferation of diatoms triggered by bamboo addition lowered the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) by upto 60 μatm in 8 days. Our findings reveal that bamboo has high potential in ocean fertilization experiments, as it gave better pCO₂ reduction when compared to most global ocean fertilization experiments. Furthermore, the ecological success of bamboo in drawing down pCO₂ over other SiO₄⁴⁻ sources indicates that diatom proliferation is mainly regulated by nitrogen limitation in the Arabian Sea. This study has implications for CO₂ sequestration, the aquaculture industry, and broader environmental health.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145012881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-Term Dynamics of the Northern Humboldt Current System Pelagic Fish Community: A Look Into Community Shifts","authors":"Paola Galloso,&nbsp;Pierre Legendre,&nbsp;Giancarlo M. Correa,&nbsp;Miquel De Cáceres","doi":"10.1111/maec.70048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70048","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The northern Humboldt Current System (nHCS) has high environmental variability that impacts key demographic and community-scale processes. Understanding the role and ecological implications of these interannual or long-term events is crucial in describing the dynamics of the nHCS community. Using catch data from pelagic assessment surveys from 1983 to 2019 and the community trajectory analysis framework, we tested and characterised the patterns and compositional dynamics of the nHCS pelagic fish community over space and time. Spatially, changes were evaluated for ecological regions with similar community composition. We found that the community has experienced constant interannual variability consistent with the long-term warm and cold periods previously identified in the system. Two shifts in 1990 and 2001 were identified and associated with a change in the average oceanographic conditions in the system. Coastal fish species dominated the community after 2001, while oceanic and tropical species were more abundant before 1990. We found lower and higher interannual variability for the coastal and oceanic areas, respectively. Moreover, the coastal area reported a higher change in the community structure from 1983 to 2019. Temperature and oxygen were two oceanographic variables significantly associated with the main changes in the community, finding that warmer and less oxygenated years lead to higher diversity. This study helps to understand the magnitude, direction, and mechanisms involved in the long-term changes of the nHCS pelagic fish community.</p>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maec.70048","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145011958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying Growth Rates Using Growth Checks in Colonial Organisms: A Case Study on Erect Bryozoans From the Southern Ocean","authors":"Marcus M. Key Jr.,&nbsp;Abigail M. Smith,&nbsp;Madelaine S. McDowell,&nbsp;Ian S. Dixon-Anderson","doi":"10.1111/maec.70038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70038","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>As environmental change accelerates, marine invertebrate growth rates may change in response to a variable environment. Some colonial invertebrates manifest annual growth checks in their skeletons, as somatic growth slows or stops in winter. Here we describe a morphometric measurement methodology to quantify growth rates using annual growth checks visible on X-rays and SEM images. We tested our method on three rigid erect perennial cheilostome bryozoan colonies belonging to the marine species <i>Cellarinella nutti</i>, <i>Melicerita chathamensis</i>, and <i>M. obliqua</i>. They were collected from 150 to 500 m water depth and from 48° S to 78° S latitude. The growth checks in all three species were identified visually in X-ray images. We trialed the use of morphometric data from composite SEM images, including measures of branch width, number of autozooids across branch, autozooid length, and autozooid width, but they did not significantly correlate with growth checks from the X-ray images in all species. In the two polar species, the winter growth checks were associated with slightly longer autozooids. Assuming that growth checks were annual, growth rates were calculated to be from 2.81 to 3.54 mm/year, decreasing over time. Our hypothesis is that a combination of X-ray imaging and morphometric data collection on composite SEM images shows promise for application to other bryozoan species and marine invertebrates from temperate/polar regions.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144927666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nematode Size Fraction Data Improves Explanatory Power of Multivariate Model of Macrobenthic Assemblage in Clam (Ruditapes) Fishery Grounds","authors":"Yoshitake Takada,&nbsp;Mutsumi Tsujino,&nbsp;Naoaki Tezuka,&nbsp;Motoharu Uchida","doi":"10.1111/maec.70047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70047","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>In Japan, fishery grounds for <i>Ruditapes philippinarum</i> are located in estuarine and tidal flat habitats and occur over an extensive geographic range. In these habitats, due to increasing risks from environmental stressors, there is a need to develop rapid and reliable methods for inferring compositions of macrobenthic assemblages and their respective relationships with environmental and biological factors. This study examines spatial variations of macrobenthic assemblages on the fishery grounds and evaluates size-fractioned nematode data as a predictor of the macrobenthic assemblages. Multivariate analyses were carried out on the macrobenthic assemblage at 34 sites in Japan, using nematode density of three size fractions and sediment environmental variables as explanatory parameters. Four groups of assemblages were recognized by cluster analysis. <i>Ruditapes philippinarum</i> was the indicator taxonomic unit of one of the assemblages (Group 2) which occurred mainly in northeastern Japan, reflecting the recent decreasing trend of the population in southwestern Japan. Comparisons of seven models by distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA) revealed that the model with the density of medium and large-sized nematode (≥ 0.125 mm), in addition to sediment environmental variables, best explained the variation in the composition of the macrobenthic assemblages. The dbRDA result indicated that the increase in nematode density of these size fractions related to the occurrence of the Group 2 assemblage. Therefore, density data of medium and large nematode (≥ 0.125 mm) contain useful information for modeling macrobenthic assemblages on <i>Ruditapes</i> fishery grounds.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144923644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial and Seasonal Variation of Species Richness and Biomass of Macroalgae (Rhodophyta) on Mangrove Roots on the Brazilian Amazon Coast","authors":"Amanda Cristine Sarmento Pinheiro,&nbsp;Thuareag Monteiro Trindade dos Santos,&nbsp;César França Braga,&nbsp;Marcus Emanuel Barroncas Fernandes","doi":"10.1111/maec.70043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70043","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mangrove forests are a relevant coastal ecosystem, and Brazil holds the second-largest mangrove area worldwide, with over two-thirds of it located in the Amazon region. However, despite their singular environmental characteristics and ecological importance, macroalgal communities in Amazonian mangroves remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigates the composition and biomass of macroalgae from two mangrove forests on the Brazilian Amazon coast and their temporal variation. Overall, higher precipitation was observed in May and lower in September, while air temperatures were higher in November and lower in January. Estiva tidal creek exhibited higher salinity and conductivity, while Taici had higher turbidity, NO₂⁻, and PO₄⁻³ levels. Seven Rhodophyta species were identified, with <i>Bostrychia calliptera, B. moritziana</i>, and <i>Catenella caespitosa</i> being the most frequent and dominant in terms of biomass across all months and substrates at both sites. Richness and biomass varied significantly across months, with the highest values observed in the dry season (September) and at the innermost site (Taici). Among the substrates, rhizophores had significantly higher biomass in Taici, whereas pneumatophores showed similar biomass across both sites. DistLM analysis indicated that salinity, precipitation, NO₂⁻ concentrations, and substrate type were the main drivers of macroalgal biomass. These findings highlight the significant spatial and temporal variations in environmental conditions and macroalgal biomass in mangrove ecosystems, emphasizing the need for site-specific management and conservation strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maec.70043","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological Process Explains the Rensch's Rule in Penaeidae (Decapoda, Dendrobranchiata)","authors":"Maria Carolina Lima Farias,&nbsp;Douglas Fernandes Rodrigues Alves,&nbsp;Uedson Pereira Jacobina,&nbsp;Pablo Ariel Martinez","doi":"10.1111/maec.70041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70041","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The evolution of body size and its association with sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in species is a subject of significant debate in evolutionary ecology. Rensch's rule predicts that SSD tends to decrease with body size in species where females are the larger sex. However, to comprehend the underlying causes of SSD emergence, it is necessary to understand how ecological and evolutionary processes differentially influence males and females. In this study, we quantified the effects of geographic, biotic, and abiotic factors on body size and evaluated Rensch's rule in penaeid shrimps by examining how ecological and evolutionary processes—such as sexual selection and resource competition—affect males and females differently. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships within the group and analyzed the evolution of male and female body sizes in 65 species of the family Penaeidae using phylogenetic comparative models. Our findings revealed that the sexual dimorphism detected in the family follows Rensch's rule. Male size is primarily influenced by female size, with males becoming larger as females increase in size, suggesting a role for sexual selection. Our results demonstrate how multiple ecological and evolutionary forces act differentially on males and females, shaping the emergence and evolution of SSD. These findings offer new insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics shaping sexual size dimorphism in marine organisms, with broader implications for understanding patterns of body size evolution.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144891713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonal Changes of Size Spectra of the Benguela Offshore Mesopelagic Ecosystem Compartment in Relation to Primary Production","authors":"Heino O. Fock,&nbsp;Henrike Andresen,&nbsp;Javier Díaz Pérez,&nbsp;Tim Dudeck,&nbsp;Gabriela Figueiredo,&nbsp;Thierry Frédou,&nbsp;Dawit Y. Ghebrehiwet,&nbsp;Cristina González-García,&nbsp;José M. Landeira,&nbsp;Simone Lira,&nbsp;Emilio Marañón,&nbsp;Leandro Nole Eduardo,&nbsp;Ralf Schwamborn","doi":"10.1111/maec.70040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Seasonal differences in marine size spectra of micronekton at the shelf-ocean interface of the northern (NBUS) and southern Benguela upwelling system (SBUS) in Feb–Mar 2019 and Sep–Oct 2021 were analysed for mesopelagic fishes and total micronekton, the latter also including invertebrates. A resource dependent population model based on the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) containing resource and temperature terms and a term representing a transfer function was applied to test three different types of size spectra slope estimates. The model fitted best with linear slopes calculated of log-binned averaged community biomass (LBNbiom method), while maximum likelihood and quantile regression estimates proved less effective. The best model for total micronekton contained significant effects both for resource term and transfer function, but not for temperature, and was 3.6 times more effective explaining the data than a non-MTE model. Normalized biomass size spectra (NBSS) slopes of the total micronekton were in the theoretical range between −0.80 and −1.37, where the near-equilibrium slope of −0.80 was obtained for the SBUS under oligotrophic conditions in 2021. Seasonally, NBSS slopes were steeper in the NBUS than in the SBUS. The slopes for the fishes' subcomponents ranged from −0.23 to −0.92, where values &gt; −0.75 fall outside the theoretical range, suggesting that selecting taxonomic subsets for size spectrum analysis is problematic. The importance of the productivity regime shaping the biomass spectrum directly through the resource level and indirectly through the transfer function is highlighted. For mesopelagic fishes, generation time and fecundity are applied to explain slopes &gt; −0.75.</p>","PeriodicalId":49883,"journal":{"name":"Marine Ecology-An Evolutionary Perspective","volume":"46 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maec.70040","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144885086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}