Wg. Sprules et Ap. Goyke, SIZE-BASED STRUCTURE AND PRODUCTION IN THE PELAGIA OF LAKES ONTARIO AND MICHIGAN, Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences, 51(11), 1994, pp. 2603-2611
Analytical solutions to allometric models of predator-prey interaction
s in aquatic ecosystems indicate that normalized biomass spectra shoul
d consist of a smooth quadratic trend around which periodic oscillatio
ns occur. We confirm these assertions by showing that parabolas provid
e good models of normalized biomass as a function of body mass within
homogeneous trophic groupings oi organisms (phytoplankton, zooplankton
, or fish) in the pelagic food webs of Lakes Ontario and Michigan. In
addition, we show that the normalized biomass spectrum for the whole p
elagic community in these lakes can be modelled by a series of parabol
as of constant curvature that are aligned along a smooth quadratic bas
e, as predicted by theory. Total secondary production in Lake Ontario
is predicted from these models to be 234 kcal . m(-2). yr(-1) (1 kcal
= 4.19 kJ), which compares favourably with sampling estimates of about
154 kcal . m(-2). yr(-1) for the whole community except rotifers and
some hypolimnetic organisms, but both are higher than particle-size co
nversion efficiency estimates of 75-125 kcal . m(-2). yr(-1).