TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rossberg, Axel G.
A1  - Gaedke, Ursula
A1  - Kratina, Pavel
T1  - Dome patterns in pelagic size spectra reveal strong trophic cascades
T2  - Nature Communications
N2  - In ecological communities, especially the pelagic zones of aquatic ecosystems, certain bodysize ranges are often over-represented compared to others. Community size spectra, the distributions of community biomass over the logarithmic body-mass axis, tend to exhibit regularly spaced local maxima, called "domes", separated by steep troughs. Contrasting established theory, we explain these dome patterns as manifestations of top-down trophic cascades along aquatic food chains. Compiling high quality size-spectrum data and comparing these with a size-spectrum model introduced in this study, we test this theory and develop a detailed picture of the mechanisms by which bottom-up and top-down effects interact to generate dome patterns. Results imply that strong top-down trophic cascades are common in freshwater communities, much more than hitherto demonstrated, and may arise in nutrient rich marine systems as well. Transferring insights from the general theory of nonlinear pattern formation to domes patterns, we provide new interpretations of past lake-manipulation experiments.
Y1  - 2019
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48128
SN  - 2041-1723
VL  - 10
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -