Approaching Marine Megapredator Appetites through Modern Analogues, Geochemical Indicators, and Bioenergetic Theory

Marine ecosystems across ecological and evolutionary time have been structured by the energetic consequences of body size. Here, modern observations, historical ecology, geochemical proxies, and bioenergetic theory are brought together to examine how giant marine predators interacted with prey and with one another from contemporary to ancient ocean communities. Particular emphasis is placed on the extent to which trophic role can be understood not simply from predator size or isotopic position alone, but from the energetic feasibility of specific predator-prey relationships. This perspective also raises the possibility that baleen whales have served as trophic short circuits for large apex predators, linking high trophic levels to exceptionally large, lower-trophic prey in ways that may have been ecologically important in both past and present marine communities. Within this framework, prey identity, predator size, and the distinct constraints imposed by ingestion and digestion shape the range of viable trophic interactions available to sharks and raptorial whales. Taken together, we aim for this synthesis to motivate a more mechanistic view of marine megapredation, providing a basis for linking modern ecosystems, paleontological inference, and macroevolutionary change within a common energetic framework.

Speakers: Greg Breed, Sora Kim, Justin Yeakel, Stanford University