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Relation Between Population Density and Body Size in Stream Communities
P. E. Schmid,1*M. Tokeshi,2J. M. Schmid-Araya1
The existence of a general relation between population
density and body size in animal assemblages has been debated becauseof
known biases and ambiguities in the published data and datahandling.
Using new comprehensive data sets from two geographicallyseparated
stream communities that encompass 448 and 260 invertebratetaxa with a
wide range of body sizes, we show that an inverseproportionality
between density and body size is a consistentfeature in these
communities. The scaling across taxa is not statisticallydifferent
between the two systems, indicating a convergent patternof
communities. Variation in the regression slope among differenttaxonomic groups indicates that these communities are not governeduniversally by a single ecological or energetic rule.
1 School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, London E1 4NS, UK.
2 Amakusa Marine Biological Laboratory, Kyushu
University, Tomioka, Reihoku-Amakusa, Kumamoto, Japan.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
p.e.schmid{at}qmw.ac.uk
P. A. Marquet, R. A. Quinones, S. Abades, F. Labra, M. Tognelli, M. Arim, and M. Rivadeneira (2005)
J. Exp. Biol.
208, 1749-1769
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