Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean

Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Self-organisation of zooplankton communities produces similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean Jason Everett, Ryan Heneghan, Julia Blanchard, Iain Suthers, Evgeny Pakhomov, and 20 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1186379/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract 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 counterparts 1 has achieved the status of an ecological paradigm. However, recent global assessments indicate global fish biomass could be much higher than previously thought 2 – 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 change 6 – 8 , and provide more-robust forecasts of nutrient 9 and carbon cycling 10 . Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-1186379","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":95287058,"identity":"89b44054-0a89-4652-9da4-7f474217b460","order_by":0,"name":"Jason 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similar food chain lengths throughout the ocean","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-1186379/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research 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However, recent global assessments indicate global fish biomass could be much higher than previously thought\u003csup\u003e\u003cspan additionalcitationids=\"CR3\" citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e\u0026ndash;\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e, 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\u0026rsquo;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. 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