Scale and Structure in Natural Food Webs
SciencePublished 21 August 1992
Karl E. Havens
Citations288
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score10.42
SNIP6.62
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
The degree to which widely accepted generalizations about food web structure apply to natural communities was determined through examination of 50 pelagic webs sampled consistently with even taxonomic resolution of all trophic levels, suggesting that the link-species scaling law does not reflect a real ecological trend.
Abstract
The degree to which widely accepted generalizations about food web structure apply to natural communities was determined through examination of 50 pelagic webs sampled consistently with even taxonomic resolution of all trophic levels. The fraction of species in various trophic categories showed no significant overall trends as the number of species varied from 10 to 74. In contrast, the number of links per species increased fourfold over the range of species number, suggesting that the link-species scaling law, defined on the basis of aggregated webs, does not reflect a real ecological trend.
Keywords
Agricultural and Biological SciencesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyEnvironmental Science
NatureFood web patterns and their consequences
813 Citations1991Stuart L. Pimm, John H. Lawton +1 more
Although webs were often initially reported in despair at ever understanding ecological complexity, recently discovered widespread patterns in the shapes of webs, and theoretical explanations for these patterns, indicate that webs are orderly and intelligible, and have some foreseeable consequences for the dynamics of communities.
Ecological MonographsArtifacts or Attributes? Effects of Resolution on the Little Rock Lake Food Web
709 Citations1991Neo D. Martinez
It is suggested that food-web patterns such as the scale-invariant links- per-species ratio, short chain lengths, and limited number of trophic levels are constrained by the resolution of food- web data rather than by ecological factors.
The American NaturalistConstant Connectance in Community Food Webs
469 Citations1992Neo D. Martinez
Results from the constant connectance hypothesis combined with related findings regarding food chain lengths indicate that large food webs have many more links and much longer food chains than previously suggested.
Journal of Theoretical BiologyThe mechanics of community assembly and succession
316 Citations1990James A. Drake
The mechanics of community assembly and production of ecological pattern are explored and organization is deduced from an analysis of extant community organization.
ScienceEnvironmental Correlates of Food Chain Length
291 Citations1987Frédéric Briand, Joel E. Cohen
In 113 community food webs from natural communities, the average and maximal lengths of food chains are independent of primary productivity, contrary to the hypothesis that longer food chains should arise when more energy is available at their base.
NatureCommunity food webs have scale-invariant structure
287 Citations1984Frédéric Briand, Joel E. Cohen
In biological communities, the proportions of top, intermediate and basal species are, on average, independent of the total number of species, so there is a direct proportionality between the numbers of prey and predators.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciencesA stochastic theory of community food webs I. Models and aggregated data
276 Citations1985Joel E. Cohen, Charles M. Newman
A model is presented, the only successful one among several attempts, in which the first two of these empirical generalizations can be derived as a consequence of the third, which assumes that species are ordered in a cascade or hierarchy such that a given species can prey on only those species below it and can be preyed on byonly those species above it in the hierarchy.
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesTrophic links of community food webs.
213 Citations1984Joel E. Cohen, Frédéric Briand
Regularities in the numbers and kinds of trophic links in community food webs are described and explained to show how linear relationships, and scale-invariance in the proportions of basal, intermediate, and top species, make it possible to predict with remarkable precision the proportions.
ScienceScale Invariance in Food Web Properties
205 Citations1989George Sugihara, Kenneth G. Schoenly +1 more
This analysis of 60 invertebrate-dominated community food webs confirms the existence of all but one of these properties in such webs and addresses a common concern held by critics of food web theory that observed food web properties may be sensitive to trophic aggregation.
EcologyOmnivory and Food Chain Length in Zooplankton Food Webs
200 Citations1988W. Gary Sprules, Joy E. Bowerman
Analysis of plankton food webs for 515 lakes in northeastern North America indicated that glacial lakes containing the predatory species Mysis have more trophic levels and a greater incidence of omnivory than is typical of other lakes and a variety of other aquatic and terrestrial communities.
Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesBody size and food size in freshwater zooplankton
144 Citations1984Kenneth G. Bogdan, John J. Gilbert
It is concluded that zooplankton body length may influence the maximal particle size a species can ingest but has little influence on the ingestion of smaller particles.
BiomathematicsA Stochastic Theory of Community Food Webs
110 Citations1990Joel E. Cohen, Charles M. Newman +2 more
This portion of the book presents a theoretical scaffolding that theoretical ecologists constructed to hold together the observed empirical regularities of community food webs.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciencesA stochastic theory of community food webs. III. Predicted and observed lengths of food chains
74 Citations1986Joel E. Cohen, Frédéric Briand +1 more
Journal of Plankton ResearchAn analysis of selective herbivory in an acid lake and its importance in controlling phytoplankton community structure
38 Citations1985Karl E. Havens, John DeCosta
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic SciencesCrustacean Zooplankton Food Web Structure in Lakes of Varying Acidity
31 Citations1991Karl E. Havens
Positive relationships were found between lake water pH and species richness, total number of predator–prey interactions, average number of interactions per species, and average generalization of predators;verse relationshipswere found between pH and both the degree of omnivory and cannibalism in the webs.
Journal of Theoretical BiologyAnalysis of the gating of single ion channels using current-voltage surfaces
11 Citations1990Mark S.P. Sansom, Ian R. Mellor
A novel computational procedure is described for the analysis of ion channels formed in planar bilayers by two peptides, based upon the construction of single-channel current-voltage surfaces, to demonstrate voltage dependent channel gating.