OOS 60-4
The contributions of parasites to diversity, energetics, and food web structure across systems
Parasites can make significant contributions to ecosystem structure. However, most published food webs do not include information on parasites. Our understanding of the role of parasites in food webs is largely restricted to temperate estuarine systems. To expand our understanding of the role of parasites in food webs we assembled a quantitative food web, including parasites, for the intertidal sand flats of Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific.
Results/Conclusions
The sand flats of Palmyra Atoll differ from temperate estuarine systems in physical structure, species diversity, taxonomic composition, and relative biomass. However, despite these differences the contributions of parasites to system diversity, trophic structure, and energetics are conserved.