2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Functional analysis of food web of pelagic plankton communities
| Project/Area Number |
14540576
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
生態
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| Research Institution | Kochi University (2004)
The University of Tokyo (2002-2003) |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKAHASHI Masayuki Kochi University, Graduate School of Kuroshio Science, Professor, 大学院・黒潮圏海洋科学研究科, 教授 (50111357)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
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| Keywords | plankton community / ocean / food web / model analysis / food chain / productivity / biomass / ecological efficiency |
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| Research Abstract |
Current understanding of structure and function of ecosystem analyzed by use of information on dominant species is needed for its evaluation of validity by use of information of entire species in a given ecosystem.
The present research was then conducted in pelagic plankton ecosystems in tropical, sub-tropical and sub-arctic regions where necessary data sampling on species, biomass and trophic relations is probably easier than the other types of ecosystems because of excellent homogeneity in rather small scale in aquatic ecosystem. Then data on species and biomass of plankton in each community were challenged to entirely collected, and constructed the food web structure. Data were synthesized either in epi-pelagic community having both autotrophic and heterotrophic processes or middle and deep depths having only heterotrophic processes.
Based upon information on species and its biomass collected in tropical, subtropical and subarctic epi-pelagic plankton ecosystems, all species and its biomass were grouped in different compartments based upon individual size differences in each functional group for each taxonomic group. Food web was then constructed according to the ecological role of "the smaller size organisms are always eaten by the larger size organisms". This type of food web structure has been originally proposed in this study, and has shown that plankton community is functioning by species, individual size, biomass and food chain relationship which is not shown in the current analysis based upon dominant species.
Middle and deep depth communities in the ocean lack primary producer and is solely controlled by heterotrophic processes, which have been synthesized in the form of species, sizes and each biomass, but its food web analysis has been postponed in the future.
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