Sardine cycles, krill declines, and locust plagues: revisiting ‘wasp-waist’ food webs

Atkinson, A, Hill, SL, Barange, M, Pakhomov, EA, Raubenheimer, D, Schmidt, K, Simpson, SJ and Reiss, C 2014 Sardine cycles, krill declines, and locust plagues: revisiting ‘wasp-waist’ food webs. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29 (6). 309-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.03.011

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract/Summary

‘Wasp-waist’ systems are dominated by a mid trophic-level species that is thought to exert top-down control on its food and bottom-up control on its predators. Sardines, anchovy, and Antarctic krill are suggested examples, and here we use locusts to explore whether the wasp-waist concept also applies on land. These examples also display the traits of mobile aggregations and dietary diversity, which help to reduce the foraging footprint from their large, localised biomasses. This suggests that top-down control on their food operates at local aggregation scales and not at wider scales suggested by the original definition of wasp-waist. With this modification, the wasp-waist framework can cross-fertilise marine and terrestrial approaches, revealing how seemingly disparate but economically important systems operate.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Subjects:	Ecology and Environment Fisheries Marine Sciences
Divisions:	Plymouth Marine Laboratory > National Capability categories > Added Value Plymouth Marine Laboratory > Science Areas > Marine Life Support Systems (expired)
Depositing User:	Mrs Julia Crocker
Date made live:	19 Jun 2014 09:19
Last Modified:	06 Jun 2017 16:12
URI:	https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/6126

Actions (login required)

View Item