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  • Perkins_et_al._ELE_revised_submission_FINAL

    Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Perkins, D. M., Durance, I. , Edwards, F. K., Grey, J. , Hildrew, A. G., Jackson, M. , Jones, J. I., Lauridsen, R. B., Layer‐Dobra, K. , Thompson, M. S. and Woodward, G. (2018), Bending the rules: exploitation of allochthonous resources by a top‐predator modifies size‐abundance scaling in stream food webs. Ecol Lett, 21: 1771-1780. doi:10.1111/ele.13147 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13147 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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Bending the rules: exploitation of allochthonous resources by a top-predator modifies size-abundance scaling in stream food webs

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published
  • Daniel M. Perkins
  • Isabelle Durance
  • Francois K. Edwards
  • Jonathan Grey
  • Alan G. Hildrew
  • Michelle Jackson
  • J. Iwan Jones
  • Rasmus B. Lauridsen
  • Katrin Layer-Dobra
  • Murray S. A. Thompson
  • Guy Woodward
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/12/2018
<mark>Journal</mark>Ecology Letters
Issue number12
Volume21
Number of pages10
Pages (from-to)1771-1780
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date26/09/18
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Body mass–abundance (M‐N) allometries provide a key measure of community structure, and deviations from scaling predictions could reveal how cross‐ecosystem subsidies alter food webs. For 31 streams across the UK, we tested the hypothesis that linear log‐log M‐N scaling is shallower than that predicted by allometric scaling theory when top predators have access to allochthonous prey. These streams all contained a common and widespread top predator (brown trout) that regularly feeds on terrestrial prey and, as hypothesised, deviations from predicted scaling increased with its dominance of the fish assemblage. Our study identifies a key beneficiary of cross‐ecosystem subsidies at the top of stream food webs and elucidates how these inputs can reshape the size‐structure of these ‘open’ systems.

Bibliographic note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Perkins, D. M., Durance, I. , Edwards, F. K., Grey, J. , Hildrew, A. G., Jackson, M. , Jones, J. I., Lauridsen, R. B., Layer‐Dobra, K. , Thompson, M. S. and Woodward, G. (2018), Bending the rules: exploitation of allochthonous resources by a top‐predator modifies size‐abundance scaling in stream food webs. Ecol Lett, 21: 1771-1780. doi:10.1111/ele.13147 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13147 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.