Single species models for many species food webs

Single species models for many species food webs

Most species live in species-rich food webs; yet, for a century, most mathematical models for population dynamics have included only one or two species1,2,3. We ask whether such models are Cited by:  · Murdoch, W., Kendall, B., Nisbet, R. et al. Single-species models for many-species food webs. Nature , – (). blogger.com Download citation. Received: 30 Most species live in species-rich food webs; yet, for a century, most mathematical models for population dynamics have included only one or two species. We ask whether such models are relevant to the real world. Two-species population models of an interacting consumer and resource collapse to one-species dynamics when recruitment to the resource population is unrelated to resource

Single-species models for many-species food webs

Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Most species live in species-rich food webs; yet, for a century, most mathematical models for population dynamics have included only one or two species 123.

We ask whether such models are relevant to the real world. Two-species population models of an interacting consumer and resource collapse to one-species dynamics when recruitment to the resource population is unrelated to resource abundance, thereby weakening the coupling between consumer and resource 456. We predict that, in nature, generalist consumers that feed on many species should similarly show one-species dynamics.

We test this prediction using cyclic populations, in which it is easier to infer underlying mechanisms 7and which are widespread in nature 8. Here we show that one-species cycles can be distinguished from consumer—resource cycles by their periods. We then analyse a large number of time series from cyclic populations in nature and show that almost all cycling, generalist consumers examined have periods that are consistent with one-species dynamics.

Thus generalist consumers indeed behave as if they were one-species populations, and a one-species model is a valid representation for generalist population dynamics in many-species food webs. Lotka, A. Elements of Physical Biology Dover, New York,reprinted MATH Google Scholar.

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Download references. We thank C. Godfray for permission to analyse time series from the Global Population Dynamics Database GPDD. We thank J. Fryxell, B. Gilbert, S. Henke, P. Hudson, C. Krebs, L. Oksanen, B. Sanderson, S, single species models for many species food webs. Taylor and M. Tewes for discussions on particular taxa, and J. Metz for discussions of cycle periods. The research was supported by grants from the NSF and United States Department of Agriculture USDA.

Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara,California, USA. Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara,California, USA. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley,California, USA.

Ecology Division, Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Alberta, Canada, single species models for many species food webs.

Single-species models for many-species food webs | Nature

 · Murdoch, W., Kendall, B., Nisbet, R. et al. Single-species models for many-species food webs. Nature , – (). blogger.com Download citation. Received: 30 Single-species models for many-species food webs. Title: Single-species models for many-species food webs: Publication Type: Journal Article: Year of Publication: Authors: Murdoch WW, Kendall BE, Nisbet RM, Briggs CJ, McCauley E, Bolser R: Journal: Nature Single species models for many species food webs, Cheryl Briggs. Bjornstad, O. We ask whether such models consumer can then produce single-generation cycles or delayed-