Primary consumer body size and food-chain length in terrestrial communities

Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution

Volumn 55, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 329-343

  Ayal, Yoram ^a   Groner, Elli ^a  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

Author keywords

body size; Food chain length; terrestrial communities

Indexed keywords

ANIMAL; BIOENERGY; BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION; BODY SIZE; FOOD CHAIN; FOOD WEB; HYPOTHESIS TESTING; PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTION; SIZE STRUCTURE; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM;

ANIMALIA;

EID: 77954962531     PISSN: 15659801     EISSN: 22244662     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1560/IJEE.55.4.329     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. Arditi, R., Michalski, J. 1996. Nonlinear food web models and their responses to increased basal productivity. In: Polis, G.A., Winemiller, K.O., eds. Food webs: integration of patterns and dynamics. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 122-133.
2. Ayal, Y. 2007. Trophic structure and the role of predation in shaping hot desert communities. Journal of Arid Environments 68: 171-187.
3. Borror, D.J., DeLong, D.M. 1981. An introduction to the study of insects, 5th edition. Saunders College Publishing, Ft. Worth, TX.
4. Briand, F., Cohen, J.E. 1984. Community food webs have scale-invariant structure. Nature 307: 264-267.
5. Burness, G., Diamond, J., Flannery, T. 2001. Dinosaurs, dragons, and dwarfs: the evolution of maximal body size. PNAS 98: 14518-14523.
6. Carbone, C., Mace, G., Roberts, S., Macdonalds, D. 1999. Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores. Nature 402: 286-288.
7. Carpenter, S.R., Kitchell, J.F., Hodgson, J.R., Cochran, P.A., Elser, J.J., Elser, M.M., Lodge, D.M., Kretchmer, D., He, X. 1987. Regulation of lake primary productivity by food web structure. Ecology 68: 1863-1876.
8. Cohen, J.E. 1978. Food webs and niche space. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
9. Cohen, J.E. 1989. Ecologist's co-operative web bank, The Rockefeller University, New York.
10. Cohen, J.C., Pimm, S.L., Yodzis, P., Saldana, J. 1993a. Body sizes of animal predators and animal prey in food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology 62: 67-78.
11. Cohen, J.E., Beaver, R.A., Cousins, S.H., Deangelis, D.L., Goldwasser, L., Heong, K.L., Holt, R.D., Kohn, A.J., Lawton, J.H., Martinez, N., Omalley, R., Page, L.M., Patten, B.C., Pimm, S.L., Polis, G.A., Rejmanek, M., Schoener, T.W., Schoenly, K., Sprules, W.G., Teal, J.M., Ulanowicz, R.E., Warren, P.H., Wilbur, H.M., Yodzis, P. 1993b. Improving food webs. Ecology 74: 252-258.
12. Cousins, S.H. 1996. Food webs: from the Lindman paradigm to a taxonomic general theory of ecology. In: Polis, G.A., Winemiller, K.O., eds. Food webs: Integration of patterns and dynamics. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 243-251.
13. Deangelis, D.L., Mulholland, P.J., Palumbo, A.V., Steinman, A.D., Huston, M.A., Elwood, J.W. 1989. Nutrient dynamics and food-web stability. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 20: 71-95.
14. Dunning, J.B. 1984. Body weights of 686 species of North American birds. Eldon Publishing, Cave Creek, Arizona.
15. Elton, C.S. 1927. Animal ecology. Sidgwick & Jackson, London.
16. Hairston, J.N.G., Hairston, J.N.G. 1993. Cause-effect relationships in energy-flow, trophic structure, and interspecific interactions. The American Naturalist 142: 379-411.
17. Hall, S.J., Raffaelli, D.G. 1993. Food webs-theory and reality. In: Advances in Ecological Research, Vol 24, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 187-239.
18. Hutchinson, G. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals. The American Naturalist XCIII: 342-356.
19. Kerr, S.R., Dickie, L.M. 2001. The biomass spectrum: a predator-prey theory of aquatic production. Columbia University Press, New York.
20. Lawton, J. 1989. Food webs. In: Cherrett, J., ed. Ecological concepts. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 43-78.
21. Lawton, J.H. 1989. What is the relationship between population density and body size in animals. Oikos 55: 429-434.
22. Lindemann, R.L. 1942. The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology. Ecology 23: 399-418.
23. Martinez, N.D. 1992. Constant connectance in community food webs. American Naturalist 139: 1208-1218.
24. May, R.M. 1973. Stability and complexity in model ecosystems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
25. McNaughton, S.J., Oesterheld, M., Frank, D.A., Williams, K.J. 1989. Ecosystem-level patterns of primary productivity and herbivory in terestrial habitats. Nature 341: 142-144.
26. Nowak, R.M. 1991. Walker's mammals of the world, 5th edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.
27. Owen-Smith, N., Mills, M.G.L. 2008. Predator-prey size relationships in an African large-mammal food web. Journal of Animal Ecology 77: 173-183.
28. Pace, M.L., Cole, J.J., Carpenter, S.R., Kitchell, J.F. 1999. Trophic cascades revealed in diverse ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 14: 483-488.
29. Paine, R.T. 1988. Food webs: road maps of interactions or grist for theoretical development? Ecology 69: 1648-1654.
30. Pimm, S.L. 1979. Complexity and stability: another look at Mac Arthur's original hypothesis. Oikos 33: 351-357.
31. Pimm, S.L. 1982. Food webs. Chapman and Hall, London.
32. Pimm, S.L., Lawton, J.H. 1977. The number of trophic leveles in ecological communities. Nature 268: 329-331.
33. Polis, G.A. 1991a. Complex trophic interactions in deserts-an empirical critique of food-web theory. American Naturalist 138: 123-155.
34. Polis, G.A. 1991b. Desert communities: an overview of patterns and processes. In: Polis, G.A., ed. The ecology of desert communities. The University of Arizona Press, Tuscon, AZ 1-27.
35. Polis, G.A., Winemiller, K.O. 1996. Food webs: integration of patterns and dynamics. Chapman and Hall, New York.
36. Post, D.M. 2002. The long and short of food-chain length. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 17: 269-277.
37. Post, D.M., Pace, M.L., Hairston, N.G 2000. Ecosystem size determines food-chain length in lakes. Nature 405: 1047-1049.
38. Price, P.W. 1997. Insect ecology, 3rd edition. Wiley, New York.
39. Reagan, D.P., Camilo, G.R., Waide, R.B. 1996. The community food web: major properties and patterns of organization. In: Reagan D.P., Waide, R.B., eds. The food web of a tropical rain forest. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, pp. 460-510.
40. Rodin, L., Bazilevich, N., Rozov, N. 1975. Productivity of the world's main ecosystems. In: Productivity of the world ecosystems. National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, pp. 13-26.
41. Saenz, D., Conner, R.N. 1996. Sexual dimorphism in head size of the Mediterranean gecko Hemidactylus turcicus (Sauria: Gekkonidae). Texas Journal of Science 48: 207-212.
42. Sample, B.E., Cooper, R.J., Greer, R.D., Whitmore, R.C. 1993. Estimation of insect biomass by length and width. American Midland Naturalist 129: 234-240.
43. Schoener, T.W. 1989. Food webs from the small to the large. Ecology 70: 1559-1589.
44. Schoenly, K., Cohen, J.E., Heong, K.L., Litsinger, J.A., Aquino, G.B., Barrion, A.T., Arida, G. 1996. Food web dynamics of irrigated rice fields at five elevations in Luzon, Philippines. Bulletin of Entomological Research 86: 451-466.
45. Southwood, T.R.E., Henderson, P.A. 2000. Ecological methods. Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford.
46. Sterner, R.W., Bajpai, A., Adams, T. 1997. The enigma of food chain length: absence of theoretical evidence for dynamic constraints. Ecology 78: 2258-2262.
47. Strong, D.R. 1992. Are trophic cascades all wet? Differentiation and donor-control in speciose ecosystems. Ecology 73: 747-754.
48. Thiebaux, M.L., Dickie, L.M. 1993. Structure of the body-size spectrum of the biomass in aquatic ecosystems-a consequence of allometry in predator-prey interactions. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 50: 1308-1317.
49. 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.
50. Webb, W.L., Lauenroth, W.K., Szarek, S.R., Kinerson, R.S. 1983. Primary production and abiotic controls in forest, grasslands, and desert ecosystems in the United States. Ecology 64: 134-151.
51. Yodzis, P. 1984. Energy-flow and the vertical structure of real ecosystems. Oecologia 65: 87-88.
52. Yodzis, P. 1989. Patterns in food webs. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 4: 49-50.
53. Yodzis, P., Innes, S. 1992. Body size and consumer-resource dynamics. The American Naturalist 139: 1151-1175.
54. Zaret, R.E. 1980. The animal and its viscous environment. In: Kerfoot, W.C., ed. The evolution and ecology of zooplankton communities. University Press of New England., Hanover, NH, pp. 3-9.