寄生虫和自由生活生物质在三个河口的生态系统能量影响
Armand M Kuris1, Ryan F Hechinger, Jenny C Shaw
1Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA. kuris@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Nature
|July 25, 2008
概括
通常被忽视的寄生虫拥有重要的生态系统生物量,甚至超过了加利福尼亚沿海和巴哈加利福尼亚河口的顶级捕食者. 它们大量的生物质和生产力凸显了这些环境中传染过程的关键作用.
科学领域:
- 生态生态学 生态生态学
- 寄生虫学的寄生虫学
- 海洋生物学 海洋生物学
背景情况:
- 寄生虫以其生态影响而闻名,但在生物质对生态系统的贡献方面经常被低估.
- 以前的假设表明,寄生虫对整个生态系统生物质的贡献很小.
研究的目的:
- 量化和比较三个太平洋沿岸河口的自由生活和寄生物种的生物量.
- 评估寄生虫生物质的生态意义,特别是与其他动物群体和生态系统运作的关系.
主要方法:
- 在三个不同的河口生态系统中,对自由生物和寄生生物的现场采样和生物量量化.
- 根据功能组对寄生虫进行分类 (例如,通过食物来源传播的寄生虫,寄生虫割者),以分析生物质分布.
主要成果:
- 发现寄生虫生物量很大,在研究的河口中超过了顶级捕食者的生物量.
- 特里马生物量特别高,可与鸟类,鱼类和无脊椎动物等丰富的群体相比较.
- 热带传播寄生虫和寄生虫食者占寄生虫生物质的最大比例,一些寄生虫食者控制的生物质比它们的宿主更多.
- 自由游泳的三毛年产量超过了总量化的寄生虫生物量和鸟类生物量.
结论:
- 寄生虫在河口生态系统中扮演着重要的,但往往被低估的角色,这是由于它们的大量生物质和高生产率.
- 由寄生虫驱动的传染过程是这些沿海环境中深刻的生态力量.
- 这些发现挑战了对寄生虫的传统观点,认为寄生虫对生态系统生物质的贡献很小.
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