3 research outputs found
Large-scale ocean connectivity and planktonic body size
Global patterns of planktonic diversity are mainly determined by the dispersal of propagules
with ocean currents. However, the role that abundance and body size play in determining
spatial patterns of diversity remains unclear. Here we analyse spatial community
structure - β-diversity - for several planktonic and nektonic organisms from prokaryotes to
small mesopelagic fishes collected during the Malaspina 2010 Expedition. β-diversity was
compared to surface ocean transit times derived from a global circulation model, revealing a
significant negative relationship that is stronger than environmental differences. Estimated
dispersal scales for different groups show a negative correlation with body size, where less
abundant large-bodied communities have significantly shorter dispersal scales and larger
species spatial turnover rates than more abundant small-bodied plankton. Our results confirm
that the dispersal scale of planktonic and micro-nektonic organisms is determined by local
abundance, which scales with body size, ultimately setting global spatial patterns of diversit