TY - JOUR
T1 - Flood disturbance, algal productivity, and interannual variation in food chain length
AU - Marks, Jane C.
AU - Power, Mary E.
AU - Parker, Michael S.
PY - 2000/7
Y1 - 2000/7
N2 - The length of a river food chain changed from year to year, shifting with the hydrologic regime. During drought years, grazers suppressed algae across a nutrient gradient, while predators were functionally unimportant. Following flood disturbance, predators suppressed grazers, releasing algae. These results suggest that hydrologic regime, rather than productivity, determines the functional length of this river food chain. Within years, algae and grazer biomass responded to an experimental productivity gradient in patterns predicted by simple trophic models that assume efficient energy transfer. Understanding differences among species within trophic levels, however, was crucial in delineating the controlling interactions.
AB - The length of a river food chain changed from year to year, shifting with the hydrologic regime. During drought years, grazers suppressed algae across a nutrient gradient, while predators were functionally unimportant. Following flood disturbance, predators suppressed grazers, releasing algae. These results suggest that hydrologic regime, rather than productivity, determines the functional length of this river food chain. Within years, algae and grazer biomass responded to an experimental productivity gradient in patterns predicted by simple trophic models that assume efficient energy transfer. Understanding differences among species within trophic levels, however, was crucial in delineating the controlling interactions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033854615&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.900103.x
DO - 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.900103.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033854615
SN - 0030-1299
VL - 90
SP - 20
EP - 27
JO - Oikos
JF - Oikos
IS - 1
ER -