Predator-prey body size, interaction strength and the stability of a real food web

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volumn 73, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 399-409

  Emmerson, Mark C ^a,b   Raffaelli, Dave ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF YORK   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK   (Ireland)

Author keywords

Allometric; Community; Ecosystem; Functioning; Power law

Indexed keywords

BODY SIZE; FOOD WEB; PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTION;

ABERDEENSHIRE; EURASIA; EUROPE; SCOTLAND; UNITED KINGDOM; WESTERN EUROPE; YTHAN ESTUARY;

CARCINUS MAENAS; COROPHIUM VOLUTATOR; CRANGON; CRANGON CRANGON; CRANGONIDAE; PLATICHTHYS; PLATICHTHYS FLESUS; POMATOSCHISTUS; POMATOSCHISTUS MICROPS; PORTUNIDAE;

EID: 1242288313     PISSN: 00218790     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-8790.2004.00818.x     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Baird, D. & Milne, H. (1981) Energy flow in the Ythan estuary, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science, 13, 455-472.
2. Berlow, E.L., Neutel, A.-M., Cohen, J.E., De Ruiter, P.C., Ebenman, B.O., Emmerson, M., Fox, J.W., Jansen, V.A.A., Jones, J.I., Kokkoris, G.D., Logofet, D.O., McKane, A.J., Montoya, J.M. & Petchey, O.L. (2004) Interaction strengths in food webs: issues and opportunities. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73, 585-598.
3. Berlow, E.L., Navarrete, S.A., Briggs, C.J., Power, M.E. & Menge, B.A. (1999) Quantifying variation in the strengths of species interactions. Ecology, 80, 2206-2224.
4. Buxton, N.E. (1975) The feeding behaviour and food supply of the common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) on the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
5. Calder, W.A. (1996) Size, Function and Life History. Dover Publications, New York.
6. Cohen, J.E. (1978) Food Webs and Niche Space. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
7. Cohen, J.E., Briand, F. & Newman, C.M. (1990) Community Food Webs: Data and Theory. Biomathematics, Vol. 20. Springer, Berlin.
8. Cohen, J.E., Jonsson, T. & Carpenter, S.R. (2003) Ecological community description using the food web, species abundance, and body size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 100, 1781-1786.
9. Cohen, J.E., Pimm, S.L., Yodzis, P. & Saldana, J. (1993) Body sizes of animal predators and animal prey in food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology, 62, 67-78.
10. Conover, D.O. & Munch, S.B. (2002) Sustaining fisheries yields over evolutionary time scales. Science, 297, 94-96.
11. DeRuiter, P.C., Neutel, A.-M. & Moore, J.C. (1995) Energetics, patterns of interaction strengths, and stability in real ecosystems. Science, 269, 1257-1260.
12. Duffy, J.E. (2002) Biodiversity and ecosystem function: the consumer connection. Oikos, 99, 201-219.
13. Enquist, B.J., Brown, J.H. & West, G.B. (1998) Allometric scaling of plant energetics and population density. Nature, 395, 163-166.
14. Fagan, W.F. & Hurd, L.E. (1994) Hatch density variation of a generalist arthropod predator - population consequences and community impact. Ecology, 75, 2022-2032.
15. Farlow, J.O. (1976) A consideration of the trophic dynamics of a late Cretaceous large-dinosaur community (Oldman Formation). Ecology, 57, 841-857.
16. Hall, S.J. & Raffaelli, D. (1991) Food-web patterns - lessons from a species-rich web. Journal of Animal Ecology, 60, 823-842.
17. Haydon, D.T. (2000) Maximally stable model ecosystems can be highly connected. Ecology, 81, 2631-2636.
18. Healey, M.C. (1969) The distribution and abundance of sand gobies Gobius minutus in the Ythan Estuary. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
19. Hulot, F.D., Lacroix, G., Lescher-Moutoue, F. & Loreau, M. (2000) Functional diversity governs ecosystem response to nutrient enrichment. Nature, 405, 340-344.
20. Huxham, M., Beaney, S. & Raffaelli, D. (1996) Do parasites reduce the chances of triangulation in a real food web? Oikos, 76, 284-300.
21. Huxham, M. & Raffaelli, D. (1995) Parasites and food-web patterns. Journal of Animal Ecology, 64, 168-176.
22. Jansen, V.A.A. & Kokkoris, G.D. (2003) Complexity and stability revisited. Ecology Letters, 6, 498-502.
23. Jennings, S., Warr, K.J. & Mackinson, S. (2002) Use of size-based production and stable isotope analyses to predict trophic transfer efficiencies and predator-prey body mass ratios in food webs. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 70, 934-944.
24. Jonsson, T. & Ebenman, B. (1998) Effects of predator-prey body size ratios on the stability of food chains. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 193, 407-417.
25. Law, R. & Morton, R.D. (1996) Permanence and the assembly of ecological communities. Ecology, 77, 762-775.
26. Lawlor, L.R. (1978) A comment on randomly constructed model ecosystems. American Naturalist, 112, 445-447.
27. Leaper, R. & Huxham, M. (2002) Size constraints in a real food web: predator, parasite and prey body-size relationships. Oikos, 99, 443-456.
28. Leaper, R. & Raffaelli, D.G. (1999) Defining the abundance-body size constraint space: data from a real food web. Ecology Letters, 2, 191-199.
29. Loreau, M. et al. (2001) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science, 294, 804-808.
30. May, R.M. (1973) Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems, 2nd edn. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
31. McCann, K.S. (2000) The diversity-stability debate. Nature, 405, 228-233.
32. McCann, K. & Hastings, A. (1997) Re-evaluating the omnivory-stability relationship in food webs. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B, 264, 1249-1254.
33. McCann, K. & Hastings, A. & Huxel, G.R. (1998) Weak trophic interactions and the balance of nature. Nature, 395, 794-798.
34. Milne, H. & Dunnet, G.M. (1972) Standing crop, productivity, and trophic relations of the fauna of the Ythan estuary. The Estuarine Environment (eds R.S.K. Barnes & J. Green), pp. 86-106. Applied Science Publishers, UK.
35. Neutel, A.-M., Heesterbeek, J.A.P. & deRuiter, P.C. (2002) Stability in real food webs: weak links in long loops. Science, 296, 1120-1123.
36. Paine, R.T. (1992) Food-web analysis through field measurement of per-capita interaction strength. Nature, 355, 73-75.
37. Paine, R.T. (2002) Trophic control of production in a rocky intertidal community. Science, 296, 736-739.
38. Peters, R.H. (1983) The Ecological Implications of Body Size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
39. Pimm, S.L. (1982) Food Webs. Chapman & Hall, London.
40. Pimm, S.L. & Lawton, J.H. (1977) Number of trophic levels in ecological communities. Nature, 268, 329-331.
41. Pimm, S.L. & Lawton, J.H. (1978) On feeding on more than one trophic level. Nature, 275, 342-344.
42. Raffaelli, D. & Hall, S.J. (1992) Compartments and predation in an estuarine food web. Journal of Animal Ecology, 61, 551-560.
43. Raffaelli, D.G. & Hall, S.J. (1996) Assessing the relative importance of trophic links in food webs. Food Webs: Integration of Pattern and Dynamics (eds G. Polis & K. Winemiller), pp. 185-191. Chapman & Hall, New York.
44. Sala, E. & Graham, M.H. (2002) Community-wide distribution of predator-prey interaction strength in kelp forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 99, 3678-3683.
45. Summers, R.W. (1974) The feeding ecology of the Flounder Platichthys flesus (L.) in the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
46. Warren, P.H. (1996) Structural constraints on food web assembly. Aspects of the Genesis and Maintenance of Biology Diversity (eds M.E. Hochberg, J. Clobert & R. Barbault), pp. 142-161. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
47. Warren, P.H. & Lawton, J.H. (1987) Invertebrate predator-prey body size relationships - an explanation for upper-triangular food webs and patterns in food web structure. Oecologia, 74, 231-235.
48. Williams, R.J. & Martinez, N.D. (2000) Simple rules yield complex food webs. Nature, 404, 180-183.
49. Woodward, G. & Hildrew, A.G. (2001) Invasion of a stream food web by a new top predator. Journal of Animal Ecology, 70, 273-288.
50. Wootton, T. (1997) Estimates and tests of per capita interaction strength: diet, abundance, and impact of intertidally foraging birds. Ecological Monographs, 67, 45-64.
51. Yodzis, P. (1981) The stability of real ecosystems. Nature, 289, 674-676.
52. Yodzis, P. & Innes, S. (1992) Body size and consumer-resource dynamics. American Naturalist, 139, 1151-1175.