title: Food Web Structure in Temporally-Forced Ecosystems.
abstract: Temporal variation characterizes many of Earth's ecosystems. Despite this, little is known about how food webs respond to regular variation in time, such as occurs broadly with season. We argue that season, and likely any periodicity, structures food webs along a temporal axis in an analogous way to that previously recognized in space; predators shift their diet as different resource compartments and trophic levels become available through time. These characteristics are likely (i) central to ecosystem function and stability based on theory, and (ii) widespread across ecosystem types based on empirical observations. The temporal food web perspective outlined here could provide new insight into the ecosystem-level consequences of altered abiotic and biotic processes that might accompany globally changing environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada. Electronic address: bcmcmeans@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bailey C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: McMeans
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Kevin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: McCann
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada.
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rooney
authors.affiliation: University of Windsor, GLIER, 401 Sunset Ave, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Aaron T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Fisk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012621:Seasons; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D013997:Time Factors