Foraging adaptation and the relationship between food-web complexity and stability.
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.
Kondoh
Michio
M
Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Kamitanakami, Otsu 520-2113, Japan. kondohm@cf.ac.uk
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018533:Biomass; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004032:Diet; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D020387:Food Chain; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics