title: Trait biogeography of marine copepods - an analysis across scales.
abstract: Functional traits, rather than taxonomic identity, determine the fitness of individuals in their environment: traits of marine organisms are therefore expected to vary across the global ocean as a function of the environment. Here, we quantify such spatial and seasonal variations based on extensive empirical data and present the first global biogeography of key traits (body size, feeding mode, relative offspring size and myelination) for pelagic copepods, the major group of marine zooplankton. We identify strong patterns with latitude, season and between ocean basins that are partially (c. 50%) explained by key environmental drivers. Body size, for example decreases with temperature, confirming the temperature-size rule, but surprisingly also with productivity, possibly driven by food-chain length and size-selective predation. Patterns unrelated to environmental predictors may originate from phylogenetic clustering. Our maps can be used as a test-bed for trait-based mechanistic models and to inspire next-generation biogeochemical models.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergarden 6, DK-2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergarden 6, DK-2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergarden 6, DK-2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiørboe
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D033342:Copepoda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D017753:Ecosystem; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D058974:Phylogeography; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Body size; Shannon size diversity; Trait biogeography; copepods; feeding mode; global; integrated nested Laplace approximations; marine zooplankton; myelination; offspring size