ON LUMPING SPECIES IN FOOD WEBS

EcologyPublished 1 September 1998

Andrew R. Solow, Andrew Beet

DOI10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[2013:olsifw]2.0.co;2

Source URL

Citations91

SJR quartileQ1

SJR score2.04

SNIP1.53

TL;DR

An unexpected result is that it is much easier to lump species in observed webs than in simulated webs, which points to a fundamental deficiency in web assembly models that assume a random distribution of links.

Abstract

Species in community food webs are commonly aggregated or lumped on the basis of overlap in predators and prey. This note reports an unexpected result of lumping species in observed food webs and simulated food webs. The main result is that it is much easier to lump species in observed webs than in simulated webs. The reason is that there is much more overlap in predators and prey for species in observed webs than in simulated webs. This points to a fundamental deficiency in web assembly models that assume a random distribution of links.

Keywords

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