Models of biomass size spectra assume that organisms with higher body mass feed at higher trophic levels, but explicit empirical tests of this pattern are rare. We used nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) as an index of the trophic level in a benthic fish and invertebrate size-spectrum, and demonstrated that body mass was positively and significantly related to trophic level. This pattern was consi...

The present study was conducted to obtain estimates of certain biological and economic indices of the trophic structure of the Omani landed fish catch, namely, the mean trophic level (MTL), the fishing-in-balance (FiB) index and the relative price index (RPI). The MTL generally decreased from 1995 to 2010, indicating a fishing-down of the marine trophic web. The FiB index increased, indicating ...

Food webs are known to have myriad trophic links between resource and consumer species. While herbivores have well-understood trophic tendencies, the difficulties associated with characterizing the trophic positions of higher-order consumers have remained a major problem in food web ecology. To better understand trophic linkages in food webs, analysis of the stable nitrogen isotopic composition...

Trophic assimilation efficiency (conversion of resource biomass into consumer biomass) is thought to be a limiting factor for food chain length in natural communities. In host-parasitoid systems, which account for the majority of terrestrial consumer interactions, a high trophic assimilation efficiency may be expected at higher trophic levels because of the close match of resource composition o...

Sediment dynamics and the hydrodynamics of the environment cause the complexity and variability in animal-sediment relationship, both in spatial and temporal. This study is focused on the response of macrobenthic fauna to environmental disturbance caused by fish farming using their trophic structure. Their changes in trophic structure can be used as an indicator of disturbance. Eight control si...

The influence of physical factors on the trophic structure of rocky intertidal communities in the Cape of Good Hope was investigated by examining species composition and biomass on shores subject to different conditions of substratum, sea temperature and wave exposure. Biomass of herbivores on shores with an unstable substratum was particularly high while the sessile filter-feeders and algae we...