Downscaling a Macroecological Relationship Involving Marine Fish Predator-Prey Dynamics

Uncertainty whether processes hypothesized to underlie macroecological patterns operate similarly at multiple spatial scales currently limits the application of macroecological analyses to population management.  We investigated whether the co-variability that exists between temperature, species richness and the magnitude of marine fish predator-prey time series correlations among exploited North Atlantic ecosystems at spatial scales generally >100,000 km², persists within one system characterized by a similar range of water temperatures but at spatial scales of 100s to 1000s of km².  We report that predator-prey dynamics at small spatial scales mirrors the positive relationship between ocean temperature (but not species richness) and correlations of predator-prey time series from among-system comparisons.  This successful spatial downscaling bolsters the apparent role of water temperature as the mechanism underlying the differential responses of prey to predator declines among and within exploited marine ecosystems and highlights the need to consider oceanographic conditions in analyses of ecosystem resilience.