Ecological Research

vol. 27 2012

Ecosystem size may be an important factor determining food-chain length. Ecologists have long struggled to understand the causes of variation in foodchain length. The Bahamian Islands (top) in the Atlantic Ocean have many small and large islands along a variety of environmental gradients, offering great opportunities to study the environmental variables that drive variation in food-chain length among islands. Top predators on the islands are orb spiders, such as Argiope argentata (middle), and lizards (Anolis sagrei; bottom). Their trophic position, estimated by stable isotope technique, showed significant increases with island area, being among the first examples from terrestrial systems that food-chain length increases with ecosystem size.
Photos by *Gaku Takimoto

*Gaku Takimoto is the recipient of the 15th Miyadi Award!!
Check his award article