Turbidity, arthropods and the evolution of perception:toward a new paradigm of marine phanerozoic diversity

Marcotte, Brian M.

doi:10.3354/meps191267

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Eiane et al (1997Eiane et al ( , 1999 hypothesized that decreased visibility in the water column promotes a shift from visual (fish) to tactile (jellies) planktivores. A similar idea, although at an evolutionary rather than at an ecological timescale, has been proposed by Marcotte (1999). He hypothesized that optical alterations, through turbidity changes, were a factor of evolution in Phanerozoic seas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Optical control of fish and zooplankton populations

Aksnes

Nejstgaard

Sædberg

et al. 2004

Limnology & Oceanography

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Aquatic food webs are affected from the bottom up by light through its effect on photosynthesis and productivity. But light also has a top-down effect, because it is crucial for the visual foraging efficiency in many fish. Here we present data suggesting that marine pelagic food webs are primarily structured top-down by light through its effect on vision in fish. For light-limited fjord ecosystems, we show that the abundance of zooplanktivorous fish is proportional to the vertical extension of a visual feeding habitat, represented by the inverse of the light absorbance coefficient of the water column. We also show that both zooplankton abundance and body size are proportional to the size of a vision-protected habitat that can be defined as the dimensionless product of the light absorbance coefficient and the depth of the water column. Natural and human-driven environmental change may involve alterations in the amount of surface radiation as well as in the optical properties of the water column. Our results imply that such changes are likely to affect aquatic food webs top-down through vision as well as bottom-up through photosynthesis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Optical control of fish and zooplankton populations

Aksnes

Nejstgaard

Sædberg

et al. 2004

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…The potential ease of using morphological traits as opposed to behavior or gut analysis provides a potentially powerful tool for quickly characterizing different feeding guilds and oceanic environments, including difficult to sample microenvironments. As such, key sensory architectures can provide an index into present day conditions or offer insight into paleo-conditions (Marcotte 1999). For sensory biology to generate ecological insights, a firm understanding of sensory mechanisms must be coupled to information on spatial and temporal distributions of animals in relation to the sensory environment.…”

Section: Evolutionarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory biology: linking the internal and external ecologies of marine organisms

Weissburg¹,

Browman²

2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Contributions to this Theme Section (TS) articulate an increasingly powerful synthesis in ecology: understanding animal perceptual abilities lends insight into ecological interactions that, in turn, determine fundamental properties of populations of organisms and communities. This synthesis, often referred to as sensory ecology (e.g. Dusenbery 1992), has its antecedents in diverse fields ranging from sensory physiology, behavior and behavioral ecology, to classical population ecology (e.g. Lythgoe 1979, Dusenbery 1992, Endler 2000. However, it is unique in the explicit recognition that the capacity of organisms to acquire information from the environment is an essential determinant of ecological function. Thus, sensory ecology acts as the disciplinary interface between the processes occurring within organisms and those occurring between organisms and their environment.The sub-discipline of sensory ecology is a relatively new endeavour. Although sensory physiology, behavior and ecology are all well established areas that have made substantial contributions to our understanding of the natural world, there is a distinct lack of studies that link the inner and outer ecologies of animals. The explanation for this may lie in a historical tendency to pursue specialized knowledge within a given level of inquiry at the expense of synthesis across levels (see Saarinen 1980). Whereas sensory physiologists largely address the mechanisms operating within organisms Meganyctiphanes norvegica. Knowing which sensory modes the Northern krill uses to locate prey is central to evaluations of its feeding ecology. This Theme Section presents case studies that demonstrate how sensory biology is required to mechanistically link the organism's internal and external ecologies and, thereby, to make well-founded and accurate predictions about key processes in marine ecology. Photo copyright Uwe Kils, Rutgers University. Used by permission Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 287: 2005 (or their cells), ecologists have often treated animals as black boxes whose inner workings are mysterious, irrelevant or assumed. Of course, it is not always necessary to understand how animals do things in order to advance the science of ecology. The importance of predation as a force structuring natural communities is plain even in the absence of detailed knowledge of how animals find their prey. Equally clear, however, is that information on perceptual mechanisms is sometimes indispensable for arriving at valid conclusions. For example, optimal foraging theory has been a useful heuristic tool, but has been less successful in predicting ecological outcomes, in part, because assumptions of perceptual capabilities (e.g. instantaneous recognition of prey types and their energetic value) are often unrealistic (Krebs & Davies 1991).As documented in the contributions to this TS, a firm appreciation of sensory biology can provide insights into animal distributions, relationships among competitors, pat...

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“…For example, Marcotte (1999) argued that the diversification of visually oriented aquatic animals has been influenced by levels of turbidity in the oceans, but provided no general, quantitative evaluation of the expected pattern. Similarly, Dudley (2000) suggested that high atmospheric O 2 levels promoted the origins and radiations of flying animals by facilitating aerodynamic lift and the maintenance of high metabolic rates, but he gave only weak evidence of the expected evolutionary correlation.…”

Section: The Physical Environment: C 4 Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contingent Predictability in Evolution: Key Traits and Diversification

Queiroz¹

2002

Systematic Biology

113

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Key innovations have often been invoked to explain the exceptional diversification of particular groups. However, there are few convincing examples of traits that are repeatedly and consistently associated with increased diversification. The paucity of such cases may reflect the contingent nature of the diversifying effect of key traits. These contingencies can be viewed as statistical interactions between the trait and at least three kinds of factors: (1) other taxa, (2) other traits of the group itself, and (3) the physical environment. I describe tentative examples in each of these categories:(1) a dampening of the diversification of clades with image-forming eyes by groups that earlier evolved such eyes, (2) an effect of growth form (woody or herbaceous) on the diversifying effect of biotic seed dispersal in angiosperms, and (3) an effect of atmospheric CO 2 level on the diversifying effect of C 4 photosynthesis in monocots. These examples suggest the need for more complex analyses of the relationship between possible key traits and diversification. They also suggest that radiations may be predictable given certain circumstances, thus supporting a view of evolution as both predictable and contingent. Ironically, a certain degree of predictability may be critical to arguments for evolutionary contingency.

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Turbidity, arthropods and the evolution of perception:toward a new paradigm of marine phanerozoic diversity

Cited by 13 publications

References 76 publications

Optical control of fish and zooplankton populations

Optical control of fish and zooplankton populations

Sensory biology: linking the internal and external ecologies of marine organisms

Contingent Predictability in Evolution: Key Traits and Diversification

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