Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) are used to study the trophic structure of food web in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea ecosystem. The trophic con-tinuum of pelagic food web from phytoplan...Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) are used to study the trophic structure of food web in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea ecosystem. The trophic con-tinuum of pelagic food web from phytoplankton to top preyer was elementarily established, and a trophic structure diagram in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea was outlined in combination with carbon isotopic data of benthic organisms, which is basically consistent with and makes some improvements on the simplified Yellow Sea food web and the trophic structure diagram drawn based on the biomass of main resource population during 1985―1986. This result indicates that the stable isotope method is a potential useful means for further studying the complete marine food web trophic continuum from viruses to top predators and food web stability.展开更多
The spatial and temporal characteristics of trophic structure of fish communities in the southern Huanghai Sea were examined based on the data sampled from bottom trawl surveys conducted during the autumn of 2000 and ...The spatial and temporal characteristics of trophic structure of fish communities in the southern Huanghai Sea were examined based on the data sampled from bottom trawl surveys conducted during the autumn of 2000 and the spring of 2001. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster method and bootstrap randomization were used to identify significant trophic groups for each fish assemblage in the southern Huanghai Sea. A total of six major trophic groups were identified within this system, which classified predators based upon location in the water column or prey size （ i. e. , benthic to pelagic predators or fish to small invertebrate prey predators）. The similarity level used to identify significant trophic groups in each assemblage ranged from 24% to 34%. Although planktivores were the dominant trophic group in each assemblage （60% - 79% ）, there were spatial and temporal variations in the trophic structure, which reflected the differences in the abundance and availability of dominant preys. Simplified food webs were constructed to evaluate the most important trophic relationships between the dominant prey taxa and the fishes in each assemblage within this system. Although there were some differences in the key prey species among different food webs, pelagic prey items （mainly euphausiids and copepods） represent the most important energetic link between primary producers and higher trophic level predators. The trophic level for most fishes was between 3 and d, and the weighted mean trophic level for each assemblage ranged from 3.3 to 3.4. Compared with previous study in the mid-1980s, there was an obvious downward trend in the trophic level for most fish species, which resulted mainly from the fluctuation in key prey species in the Huanghai Sea. The decrease in the importance of Japanese anchovy seems to be offset by other abundant prey species such as Euphausia pacifica and copepods （ mainly Calanus sinicus ） .展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40276046&40146027)the Major State Basic Research Development Program(Grant No.G1999043710).
文摘Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) are used to study the trophic structure of food web in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea ecosystem. The trophic con-tinuum of pelagic food web from phytoplankton to top preyer was elementarily established, and a trophic structure diagram in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea was outlined in combination with carbon isotopic data of benthic organisms, which is basically consistent with and makes some improvements on the simplified Yellow Sea food web and the trophic structure diagram drawn based on the biomass of main resource population during 1985―1986. This result indicates that the stable isotope method is a potential useful means for further studying the complete marine food web trophic continuum from viruses to top predators and food web stability.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.30490233the National Basic Research Program ("973"Program) of China under contract Nos2006CB400608 and 2005CB422306
文摘The spatial and temporal characteristics of trophic structure of fish communities in the southern Huanghai Sea were examined based on the data sampled from bottom trawl surveys conducted during the autumn of 2000 and the spring of 2001. Hierarchical agglomerative cluster method and bootstrap randomization were used to identify significant trophic groups for each fish assemblage in the southern Huanghai Sea. A total of six major trophic groups were identified within this system, which classified predators based upon location in the water column or prey size （ i. e. , benthic to pelagic predators or fish to small invertebrate prey predators）. The similarity level used to identify significant trophic groups in each assemblage ranged from 24% to 34%. Although planktivores were the dominant trophic group in each assemblage （60% - 79% ）, there were spatial and temporal variations in the trophic structure, which reflected the differences in the abundance and availability of dominant preys. Simplified food webs were constructed to evaluate the most important trophic relationships between the dominant prey taxa and the fishes in each assemblage within this system. Although there were some differences in the key prey species among different food webs, pelagic prey items （mainly euphausiids and copepods） represent the most important energetic link between primary producers and higher trophic level predators. The trophic level for most fishes was between 3 and d, and the weighted mean trophic level for each assemblage ranged from 3.3 to 3.4. Compared with previous study in the mid-1980s, there was an obvious downward trend in the trophic level for most fish species, which resulted mainly from the fluctuation in key prey species in the Huanghai Sea. The decrease in the importance of Japanese anchovy seems to be offset by other abundant prey species such as Euphausia pacifica and copepods （ mainly Calanus sinicus ） .
