通过在美洲两岸36个近岸地点进行跨越115°纬度的标准化实验，研究人员发现，在较温暖的热带水域，海洋捕食者的消耗率较高，对海洋无脊椎动物群落的生物量和物种组成的影响始终较强，这可能是由于鱼类捕食者的原因。这些研究结果有力地支持了相互作用强度随温度变化的梯度，并对海洋生态系统如何应对海洋变暖具有潜在的影响。
据悉，早期的博物学家提出，捕食强度向热带地区增加，按纬度影响基本的生态和演化过程，但经验支持仍然有限。一些研究在大尺度上测量了不同纬度的消耗率，结果不尽相同。此外，捕食如何在这样的地理尺度上影响猎物群落的组成仍然是未知的。
附：英文原文
Title: Predator control of marine communities increases with temperature across 115 degrees of latitude
Author: Gail V. Ashton, Amy L. Freestone, J. Emmett Duffy, Mark E. Torchin, Brent J. Sewall, Brianna Tracy, Mariano Albano, Andrew H. Altieri, Luciana Altvater, Rolando Bastida-Zavala, Alejandro Bortolus, Antonio Brante, Viviana Bravo, Norah Brown, Alejandro H. Buschmann, Edward Buskey, Rosita Calderón Barrera, Brian Cheng, Rachel Collin, Ricardo Coutinho, Luis De Gracia, Gustavo M. Dias, Claudio DiBacco, Augusto A. V. Flores, Maria Angélica Haddad, Zvi Hoffman, Bruno Ibaez Erquiaga, Dean Janiak, Analí Jiménez Campeán, Inti Keith, Jean-Charles Leclerc, Orlando Pedro Lecompte-Pérez, Guilherme Ortigara Longo, Helena Matthews-Cascon, Cynthia H. McKenzie, Jessica Miller, Martín Munizaga, Lais P. D. Naval-Xavier, Sergio A. Navarrete, Carlos Otálora, Lilian A. Palomino-Alvarez, Maria Gabriela Palomo, Chris Patrick, Cormack Pegau, Sandra V. Pereda, Rosana M. Rocha, Carlos Rumbold, Carlos Sánchez, Adolfo Sanjuan-Muoz, Carmen Schlder, Evangelina Schwindt, Janina Seemann, Alan Shanks, Nuno Simoes, Luis Skinner, Nancy Yolimar Suárez-Mozo, Martin Thiel, Nelson Valdivia, Ximena Velez-Zuazo, Edson A. Vieira, Bruno Vildoso, Ingo S. Wehrtmann, Matt Whalen, Lynn Wilbur, Gregory M. Ruiz
Issue&Volume: 2022-06-10
Abstract: Early naturalists suggested that predation intensity increases toward the tropics, affecting fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes by latitude, but empirical support is still limited. Several studies have measured consumption rates across latitude at large scales, with variable results. Moreover, how predation affects prey community composition at such geographic scales remains unknown. Using standardized experiments that spanned 115° of latitude, at 36 nearshore sites along both coasts of the Americas, we found that marine predators have both higher consumption rates and consistently stronger impacts on biomass and species composition of marine invertebrate communities in warmer tropical waters, likely owing to fish predators. Our results provide robust support for a temperature-dependent gradient in interaction strength and have potential implications for how marine ecosystems will respond to ocean warming.
DOI: abc4916
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc4916