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Body-size scaling in the Afon Mynach, Wales, UK.

Body-size scaling of the benthic stream community of the Afon Mynach.   Wales, UK.

Broadstone stream food-web including meiofauna

Body-size scaling of the benthic stream community of the Seebach.   Lower Austria, Austria.

Body-size scaling

Samples of species-rich protozoan and meiofauna-dominated invertebrate communities were obtained from the streambed surface and hyporheic zone using freeze-core and standpipe-trap methods in the Afon Mynach (North Wales, UK) and Seebach (Austria). Communities of more than 500 different species revealed marked scaling relationships between population density and body-size among geographically separate stream communities1-5. Moreover, these systems are characterized by sediment-depth related changes in interstitial space. A decline in pore-space with sediment depth is significantly linked with bacterial activity and body-size distribution of invertebrates5. Multifractal properties of the streambed habitat contribute to the distribution of different body-sizes and consequently, the dynamics of species and community traits, in those systems1-6.

Selected scientific publications

1. Schmid, P.E., Tokeshi, M. & Schmid-Araya, J.M. 2000. Science 289, 1557 (see abstract).
2. Schmid, P.E. 2000. Adv. Ecol. Res. 30, 339 (see summary).
3. Schmid, P.E., Tokeshi, M. & Schmid-Araya, J.M. 2002. Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 269, 2587 (download publication ).
4. Schmid, P.E. & Schmid-Araya, J.M. 2007. Body size and scale invariance: multifractals in invertebrate communities., p.140-166, in: Body Size: The Structure and Function of Aquatic Ecosystems, eds. A.G. Hildrew, D.G. Raffaelli and R. Edmonds-Brown, Cambridge Uni. Press ( see abstract ).
5. Schmid-Araya, J.M. & Schmid, P.E. 1995. Jber.Biol.Stn Lunz 15, 11 ( download this publication ).
6. Schmid, P.E. & Schmid-Araya, J.M. 2010. Fundam. Appl. Limnol. 176, 365 ( see abstract).