FN Archimer Export Format PT J TI Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean BT AF Everett, Jason Heneghan, Ryan Blanchard, Julia Suthers, Iain Pakhomov, Evgeny Sykes, Patrick Schoeman, David Baird, Mark Basedow, Sünnje Linnéa Błachowiak-Samołyk, Katarzyna Heath, Michael Hopcroft, Russell Huggett, Jenny Huret, Martin Kimmel, David Labat, Jean-Philippe Lopes, Rubens Marcolin, Catarina Nogueira, Enrique Noyon, Margaux Schultes, Sabine Sourisseau, Marc Swadling, Kerrie Trudnowska, Emilia Richardson, Anthony AS 1:1,2,3;2:4;3:5;4:3,6;5:7,8,9;6:1;7:10,11;8:12;9:13;10:;11:15;12:16;13:17,18;14:19;15:20;16:21;17:22;18:23;19:24;20:25;21:26;22:27;23:5;24:14;25:1,2; FF 1:;2:;3:;4:;5:;6:;7:;8:;9:;10:;11:;12:;13:;14:PDG-RBE-HALGO-LBH;15:;16:;17:;18:;19:;20:;21:;22:PDG-ODE-DYNECO-PELAGOS;23:;24:;25:; C1 School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, St Lucia, QLD, Australia Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, NSW, Australia Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, BC, Canada Global-Change Ecology Research Group, School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, Australia Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, TAS, Australia Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, Sopot, Poland University of Strathclyde, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, 26 Richmond Street Glasgow G1 1XH, UK Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA Oceans and Coasts Research, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Private Bag X4390, Cape Town 8000, South Africa Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), IFREMER, INRAE, Institut Agro - Agrocampus Ouest, Brest, France Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 USA Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche (UMR 7093), Villefranche-sur-mer, France Department of Biological Oceanography, Oceanographic Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-120, Brazil Environmental Sciences Training Center, Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB), Rodovia Porto Seguro - Eunápolis, BR-367, Km 10, Porto Seguro, Bahia, 45810-000, Brazil Instituto Español de Ocanografía (COV), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IEOCSIC), Subida al Radio Faro 50, 36390-Vigo, Spain Department of Oceanography and Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, 6001, South Africa Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Biology, LMU Munich, Großhaderner Str. 2 82152 Planegg- Martinsried, Germany IFREMER, French Institute for Sea Research, DYNECO PELAGOS, 29280 Plouzané, France. C2 UNIV QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA CSIRO OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE, AUSTRALIA UNIV NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA UNIV QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA UNIV TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA SIMS, AUSTRALIA UNIV BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA MPO, CANADA HAKAI INST, CANADA UNIV SUNSHINE COAST, AUSTRALIA UNIV NELSON MANDELA, SOUTH AFRICA CSIRO OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE, AUSTRALIA UNIV ARCTIC UIT NORWAY, NORWAY POLISH ACAD SCI, POLAND UNIV STRATHCLYDE, UK UNIV ALASKA, USA OCEANS & COASTS RES, SOUTH AFRICA UNIV CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA IFREMER, FRANCE NOAA, USA UNIV SORBONNE, FRANCE UNIV SAO PAULO, BRAZIL UNIV FED SOUTHERN BAHIA, BRAZIL IEO, SPAIN UNIV NELSON MANDELA, SOUTH AFRICA UNIV MUNICH, GERMANY IFREMER, FRANCE SI BREST SE PDG-RBE-HALGO-LBH PDG-ODE-DYNECO-PELAGOS UM DECOD TC 0 UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00767/87920/93521.pdf LA English DT Article AB For over 50 years, the conceptualisation of low-nutrient oligotrophic systems having longer food chains and thus lower energy transfer to fish than their high-nutrient eutrophic counterparts1 has achieved the status of an ecological paradigm. However, recent global assessments indicate global fish biomass could be much higher than previously thought2–4, suggesting that our traditional understanding of food webs may need to be revisited. Here, we challenge the classical paradigm by exploring the role of zooplankton in food webs across the world’s oceans. Using observed zooplankton size spectra, and output from a size-spectrum model that resolves nine zooplankton groups, we conclude that food chains in oligotrophic (low-nutrient) and eutrophic (high-nutrient) systems have similar lengths. We offer a compelling hypothesis to explain this emergent pattern: self-organisation of zooplankton groups across the global productivity gradient regulates food chain length. We find that in oligotrophic systems the increased carnivory and longer food chains are offset by relatively large gelatinous filter feeders eating the dominant small phytoplankton, resulting in shorter-than-expected food chains, but decreasing food quality for fish. Our findings highlight the pivotal role zooplankton play in regulating energy transfer. Better resolution of zooplankton groups, their feeding relationships and carbon content in models will increase our ability to estimate current global fish biomass 5, project future fish biomass under climate change6–8, and provide more-robust forecasts of nutrient9 and carbon cycling10. PY 2022 PD JAN SO Under Review Nature portfolio PU Research Square Platform LLC IS Version 1 DI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1186379/v1 ID 87920 ER EF