The importance of animals for mediating ecosystem processes has long been recognized by ecologists. Traditionally, consumer-mediated dynamics have been considered through consumptive pathways such as predation and herbivory. Yet, consumers also play critical roles in mediating “bottom-up” pathways associated with nutrient dynamics. Foundational research demonstrated the importance of these dynamics in terrestrial, freshwater, and pelagic marine ecosystems, and introduced novel perspectives on the role of animals such as wildebeest, lacustrine fishes, and zooplankton, respectively, for providing an important source of nutrients that limit primary production. This research inspired a substantial body of research on the importance of consumer-mediated nutrient dynamics for ecosystem function. Despite this, only recently have ecologists begun to extend this line of thinking toward coastal marine ecosystems. The data presented herein is a comprehensive study of consumer nutrient dynamics from invertebrates and fishes that live in subtropical and tropical Caribbean coastal marine waters, including mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs. This data set represents the largest, to my knowledge, published nutrient stoichiometry data set from a single system, including estimates of excretion rates (n = 900 individuals total; n = 667 individual fish, size range 0.14–2,597 g [2–107 cm]; n = 233 invertebrates, size range 0.04–487 g), and somatic nutrient content analyses (n = 658 individuals total, n = 494 vertebrates, n = 164 invertebrates). These data also include δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N stable isotopes of whole body, body mass (wet mass), taxonomic identification to class-level, and functional group classification. These data have been used to test basic ecological theory, to scale individual-level processes to coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystems, and to understand the role of human impacts for mitigating consumer-mediated nutrient dynamics. While these findings have helped improve our understanding of nutrient dynamics in tropical coastal ecosystems, these data offer a wealth of additional promise for advancing ecological theory and applied science in tropical marine ecosystems and beyond. Users are free to use and analyze the data. Attribution should be given to this presentation of the data.

中文翻译：

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加勒比沿海海洋生态系统中鱼类和无脊椎动物的营养化学计量学

生态学家早已认识到动物在调节生态系统过程中的重要性。传统上，通过捕食和食草等消耗途径来考虑消费者介导的动态。然而，消费者在调节与营养动态相关的“自下而上”途径方面也发挥着关键作用。基础研究证明了这些动态在陆地、淡水和远洋海洋生态系统中的重要性，并介绍了角马、湖泊鱼类和浮游动物等动物分别为限制初级生产提供重要营养来源的作用的新观点. 这项研究激发了大量关于消费者介导的营养动态对生态系统功能的重要性的研究。尽管如此，直到最近，生态学家才开始将这一思路扩展到沿海海洋生态系统。此处提供的数据是对生活在亚热带和热带加勒比海沿岸海域（包括红树林、海草床和珊瑚礁）中的无脊椎动物和鱼类的消费者营养动态的综合研究。据我所知，这个数据集代表了来自单个系统的最大的已发表的营养化学计量数据集，包括排泄率的估计值（n  = 900 个人；n  = 667 条鱼，尺寸范围 0.14–2,597 g [2–107 cm]；n  = 233 无脊椎动物，大小范围 0.04–487 g）和体细胞营养成分分析（ 总共n = 658 个体，n  = 494 脊椎动物，n  = 164 无脊椎动物）。这些数据还包括δ ¹³ C 和δ ¹⁵全身的 N 稳定同位素、体重（湿质量）、分类级别的分类识别和功能组分类。这些数据已被用于测试基本生态理论，将个体层面的过程扩展到珊瑚礁、红树林和海草生态系统，并了解人类影响在减轻消费者介导的营养动态方面的作用。虽然这些发现有助于提高我们对热带沿海生态系统养分动态的理解，但这些数据为推进热带海洋生态系统及其他地区的生态理论和应用科学提供了大量额外的希望。用户可以自由使用和分析数据。应归因于数据的这种呈现。