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An upper limit to the abundance of aquatic organisms

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Summary

The maximum density achievable by aquatic organisms is an inverse linear function of their body size. As a consequence, the maximum achievable biomass is independent of body size, and is 2 orders of magnitude higher than the biomass in natural populations. The minimum interorganismic terorganismic distance, calculated from the maximum density to allow comparison between aquatic and terrestrial organisms, scales as the 1/3 power of body size in both habitats. The similarities in the interorganismic distance of terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal communities suggest a fundamental regularity in the way organisms use the space.

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  1. Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, H3A 1B1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    C. M. Duarte, S. Agusti & H. Peters

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  1. C. M. Duarte
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  2. S. Agusti
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  3. H. Peters
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Duarte, C.M., Agusti, S. & Peters, H. An upper limit to the abundance of aquatic organisms. Oecologia 74, 272–276 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379370

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