RT Journal Article
T1 Quantifying top-down control and ecological traits of the scyphozoan Aurelia aurita through a dynamic plankton model
A1 Ramírez-Romero, Eduardo
A1 Molinero, Juan Carlos
A1 Paulsen, Matthias
A1 Javidpour, Jamileh
A1 Catriona, Clemmesen,
A1 Sommer, Ulrich
K1 Medusas - Distribución geográfica
AB Aurelia aurita (Linneaus, 1758) is a cosmopolitan scyphozoan, probably the most investigated jellyfish in temperate and highly productive coastal ecosystems. Despite a prominent top-down control in plankton food webs, a mechanistic understanding of A. aurita population dynamics and trophic interactions has been barely addressed. Here we develop a food web dynamic model to assess A. aurita role in the seasonal plankton dynamics of the Kiel Fjord, southwestern Baltic Sea. The model couples low trophic level dynamics, based on a classical Nutrient Phytoplankton Zooplankton Detritus (NPZD) model, to a stage-resolved copepod model (referencing Pseudocalanus sp.) and a jellyfish model (A. aurita ephyra and medusa) as consumers and predators, respectively. Simulations showed the relevance of high abundances of A. aurita, which appear related with warm winter temperatures, promoting a shift from a copepod-dominated food web to a ciliate and medusa dominated one. The model captured the intraspecific competition triggered by the medusae abundance and characterized by a negative relationship between population density and individual size/weight. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of an emergent trait such as size shaping the food web functioning, driving predation rates and population dynamics of A. aurita, driving its sexual reproductive strategy at the end of the pelagic phase.
PB Oxford University Press
YR 2018
FD 2018-10-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/38188
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/38188
LA eng
NO Eduardo Ramirez-Romero, Juan Carlos Molinero, Matthias Paulsen, Jamileh Javidpour, Catriona Clemmesen, Ulrich Sommer, Quantifying top-down control and ecological traits of the scyphozoan Aurelia aurita through a dynamic plankton model, Journal of Plankton Research, Volume 40, Issue 6, November-December 2018, Pages 678–692, https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fby041
NO https://openpolicyfinder.jisc.ac.uk/id/publication/648
NO OCEAN-CERTAIN (FP7-ENV-2013-6.1-1; no: 603773)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafts (DFG, JA2008/1-1)
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 23 ene 2026