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Consistent role of weak and strong interactions in high- and low-diversity trophic food webs

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  • Gabriel Gellner

    (University of California Davis)

  • Kevin S. McCann

    (University of Guelph)

Abstract

The growing realization of a looming biodiversity crisis has inspired considerable progress in the quest to link biodiversity, structure and ecosystem function. Here we construct a method that bridges low- and high-diversity approaches to food web theory by elucidating the connection between the stability of the basic building block of food webs and the mean stability properties of large random food web networks. Applying this theoretical framework to common food web models reveals two key findings. First, in almost all cases, high-diversity food web models yield a stability relationship between weak and strong interactions that are compatible in every way to simple low-diversity models. And second, the models that generate the recently discovered phenomena of being purely stabilized by increasing interaction strength correspond to the biologically implausible assumption of perfect interaction strength symmetry.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Gellner & Kevin S. McCann, 2016. "Consistent role of weak and strong interactions in high- and low-diversity trophic food webs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11180
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11180
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    Cited by:

    1. Nonaka, Etsuko & Kuparinen, Anna, 2023. "Limited effects of size-selective harvesting and harvesting-induced life-history changes on the temporal variability of biomass dynamics in complex food webs," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 476(C).
    2. Donohue, Ian & Coscieme, Luca & Gellner, Gabriel & Yang, Qiang & Jackson, Andrew L. & Kubiszewski, Ida & Costanza, Robert & McCann, Kevin S., 2023. "Accelerated economic recovery in countries powered by renewables," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).

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