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Oceanography in 2025 Proceedings of a Workshop (2009) / Chapter Skim
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From Short Food Chains to Complex Interaction Webs: Biological Oceanography in 2025--Kelly J. Benoit-Bird
Pages 118-120

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 118...
... •  changes in species abundance or composition at one trophic Do level create cascading effects to other trophic levels? •  a community subjected to anthropogenic perturbations, do In decreases in the densities of some species lead to compensa tory increases in the densities of functionally similar species, thereby preserving the ecosystem services performed by the community?
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From page 119...
... However, studies of pelagic marine ecosystems have emphasized primarily pairwise comparisons of species sometimes between species that are not adjacent in the food web, making interpretation of results difficult. This focus on a few components in a system can be attributed to several factors: • the 3-dimensional nature of pelagic ecosystems; •  mobility of plants and all of the animals in these systems and the thus the lack of a fixed reference point; • the specialized tools required to bring to the surface, image, or remotely sense the organisms, their characteristics, and their habi tat; and • the inherent difficulties in making measurements and perform ing manipulative experiments in the oceanic environment.
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From page 120...
... The truly integrative studies needed to look at more than a few trophic levels simultaneously have proven exceptionally difficult both in planning and data collection and analysis. While specialized researchers will always be required to carry out specific measurements, interpret their data, and move techniques forward, to overcome these difficulties we also need broadly trained scientists focused on integration of results.
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Key Terms

  • ecological questions
  • reward structure
  • pelagic marine
  • interaction webs
  • academic reward

  • marine ecosystems
  • interdisciplinary field
  • broadly trained
  • cascading effects
  • primarily pairwise

  • synthesis stage
  • review letters
  • work carried
  • historically interdisciplinary
  • cialized suite

  • interaction web
  • understanding community
  • trophic level
  • species sometimes
  • approaches requiring

  • entists focused
  • food web
  • specialized researchers
  • move techniques
  • truly integrative

  • lake ecosystems
  • single species
  • freshwater ecosystems
  • big programs
  • investigators focused


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