Foraging Adaptation and the Relationship Between Food-Web Complexity and Stability
Top Cited Papers
- 28 February 2003
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 299 (5611) , 1388-1391
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1079154
Abstract
Ecological theory suggests that complex food webs should not persist because of their inherent instability. “Real” ecosystems often support a large number of interacting species. A mathematical model shows that fluctuating short-term selection on trophic links, arising from a consumer's adaptive food choice, is a key to the long-term stability of complex communities. Without adaptive foragers, food-web complexity destabilizes community composition; whereas in their presence, complexity may enhance community persistence through facilitation of dynamical food-web reconstruction that buffers environmental fluctuations. The model predicts a linkage pattern consistent with field observations.Keywords
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