Cyclic energy pathways in ecological food webs

Fath, Brian D.; Halnes, Geir

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.04.020

Cited by 89 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Fath and colleagues have applied network and graph theory to such food webs (Fath, 2007;Fath and Halnes, 2007;. Fath interprets the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix (spectral radius) as an indicator of cyclic pathways.…”

Section: Synchrony and Asynchronymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The application in this paper is more akin to applications of network analysis and graph theory in ecology, where system representations such as food webs are analyzed (e.g., Fath, 2007;Fath and Halnes, 2007;. These will be discussed further below.…”

Section: Small-world Networkmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In spectral graph theory λ 1 is sometimes called the spectral radius, and is directly related to the number of paths or cycles in the network. In ecological food webs, for instance, the spectral radius is interpreted in terms of the strength or degree of cycling (Fath, 2007;Fath and Halnes, 2007;.…”

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fath interprets the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix (spectral radius) as an indicator of cyclic pathways. Based on the spectral radius, food webs were classified as being characterized by no cycling (λ 1 = 0), weak cycling (λ 1 = 1), and strong cycling (λ 1 N 1) (Fath, 2007;Fath and Halnes, 2007;.…”

Section: Synchrony and Asynchronymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Synchronization and scale in geomorphic systems

Phillips

2012

Geomorphology

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Section: Synchrony and Asynchronymentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Small-world Networkmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Synchrony and Asynchronymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Synchronization and scale in geomorphic systems

Phillips

2012

Geomorphology

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“…) and connections (links, flows, etc.) (Patten et al, 1976;Ulanowicz, 1986;Wulff et al, 1989;Christensen and Pauly, 1993;Fath and Patten, 1999), which places greater emphasis on the transfers between nodes rather than the characteristics of individual nodes (Ulanowicz, 1986) and identifies and quantifies the direct and indirect effects in that system (Fath and Patten, 1999;Fath and Halnes, 2007;Borrett et al, 2007). For a system that can be pictorially described as a web structure, a collection of boxes connected by arrows that describe exchanges of media that are necessary to make the system functional, ENA serves as a promising approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Study on sustainable water use of the Haihe River Basin using ecological network analysis

Chen

2009

Front. Earth Sci. China

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Sustainable water use of the Haihe River Basin is studied by using the ecological network analysis (ENA) approach. Two related aspects including socioeconomic and environmental water uses sustainability and network organization inherent in system structures are analyzed. For the study of sustainable water use from each single aspect including water use intensity, water use pressure, and environmental protection, a series of new indicators termed as total system throughput water use intensity (TSTUI), total system throughput pressure (TSTP), and environmental flow indicator (EFI) are set up by incorporating parameters of GDP, population, and environmental flow. Based on these three indices, a new integrated index, intensity-pressure-environment (IPE) is established for synthesized measure of sustainable socioeconomic and environmental water uses. The indices of ascendency and overhead are applied for analyzing and characterizing water use network organization. The four subbasins of the Haihe River during 1999-2002 and 2005-2007 are studied. The results show that (i) the water use intensity in subbasin II is the best, while that in subbasins I and III are the worst; (ii) subbasin II and subbasins I and III suffer the highest and lowest water use pressure, respectively; (iii) the environmental flow situations in subbasins II and III are the worst and that of subbasin I is the best; (iv) as for the integrated socioeconomic and environmental water uses sustainability, subbasin III is the best, and subbasins I and IV are the worst; (v) the organization level of subbasin I is better than the others', in which that of subbasin IV is the worst. It can be concluded that the application of ENA in sustainable water use study can provide new angles for water resources management to address the challenges of assessing and optimizing options to obtain more sustainable water use.

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Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

Root‐Bernstein

Jaksic

2017

Earth's Future

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We examine some unexpected epistemological conflicts that arise at the interfaces between ecological science, the ecosystem services framework, policy, and industry. We use an example from our own research to motivate and illustrate our main arguments, while also reviewing standard approaches to ecological science using the ecosystem services framework. While we agree that the ecosystem services framework has benefits in its industrial applications because it may force economic decision makers to consider a broader range of costs and benefits than they would do otherwise, we find that many alignments of ecology with the ecosystem services framework are asking questions that are irrelevant to real-world applications, and generating data that does not serve real-world applications. We attempt to clarify why these problems arise and how to avoid them. We urge fellow ecologists to reflect on the kind of research that can lead to both scientific advances and applied relevance to society. In our view, traditional empirical approaches at landscape scales or with place-based emphases are necessary to provide applied knowledge for problem solving, which is needed once decision makers identify risks to ecosystem services. We conclude that the ecosystem services framework is a good policy tool when applied to decision-making contexts, but not a good theory either of social valuation or ecological interactions, and should not be treated as one. Plain Language SummaryThe ecosystem services framework is a policy tool that aims to help industrial actors and economic decision makers to appreciate the true costs of environmental destruction. In industry standards that incorporate ecosystem services, decision makers should consider the harms to a wide range of actors who may suffer if the ecosystems that they depend on are disrupted by a project. When used this way, the ecosystem services framework appears to be good and effective. However, in the rush to show that their research is relevant to society, and to attract funding, many ecologists have tried to use the ecosystem services framework as if it were a theory of ecological interactions and ecosystem functioning. We show how ecologists, including ourselves, have developed "hybrid" methods that mix traditional ecological science with an ecosystem services perspective. We have come to the conclusion, however, that these approaches often answer questions that are not relevant to applied contexts, and provide data that are not useful for solving real-world problems. These possible mistakes can be avoided, and we discuss approaches to make ecology useful to society without misusing the ecosystem services framework

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Cyclic energy pathways in ecological food webs

Cited by 89 publications

References 52 publications

Synchronization and scale in geomorphic systems

Synchronization and scale in geomorphic systems

Study on sustainable water use of the Haihe River Basin using ecological network analysis

Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

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