Modelling food web complexity: The consequences of individual-based, spatially explicit behavioural ecology on trophic interactions

Schmitz, Oswald J.; Booth, G. H.

doi:10.1023/a:1018476606256

Cited by 55 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In contrast, we predict that in the presence of cray®sh, periphyton proximate to covered habitats will receive a positive indirect eect of cray®sh predation, whereas periphyton in open habitats, and especially near the water surface, will be depressed to low levels. Thus, we expect that these two predators will have dierent behaviorally mediated indirect eects on the local abundance of periphyton, even if they present the same level of risk to snails, because of their spatially explicit eects on snail grazing patterns (Schmitz and Booth 1997). McIntosh and Townsend (1996) recently documented dierential eects of trout (Salmo trutta) and galaxias (Galaxias vulgaris) on periphyton standing crop in New Zealand rivers.…”

Section: Consequences Of Behavioral Speci®citymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator identity and consumer behavior: differential effects of fish and crayfish on the habitat use of a freshwater snail

Turner¹,

Fetterolf²,

Bernot³

1999

Oecologia

172

128

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Predators can alter the outcome of ecological interactions among other members of the food web through their effects on prey behavior. While it is well known that animals often alter their behavior with the imposition of predation risk, we know less about how other features of predators may affect prey behavior. For example, relatively few studies have addressed the effects of predator identity on prey behavior, but such knowledge is crucial to understanding food web interactions. This study contrasts the behavioral responses of the freshwater snail Physellagyrina to fish and crayfish predators. Snails were placed in experimental mesocosms containing caged fish and crayfish, so the only communication between experimental snails and their predators was via non-visual cues. The caged fish and crayfish were fed an equal number of snails, thereby simulating equal prey mortality rates. In the presence of fish, the experimental snails moved under cover, which confers safety from fish predators. However, in the presence of crayfish, snails avoided benthic cover and moved to the water surface. Thus, two species of predators, exerting the same level of mortality on prey, induced very different behavioral responses. We predict that these contrasting behavioral responses to predation risk have important consequences for the interactions between snails and their periphyton resources.

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Section: Consequences Of Behavioral Speci®citymentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator identity and consumer behavior: differential effects of fish and crayfish on the habitat use of a freshwater snail

Turner¹,

Fetterolf²,

Bernot³

1999

Oecologia

172

128

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Conrad and Pattee (1970) (also see Conrad and Rizki, 1989) described a simple individual-based ecosystem model in which organisms collected resources when their internal state matched external conditions, and more complex models of trophic interactions were developed as computing power increased (for example Smith, 1991). Holland (1992) introduced the notion of artificial chromosomes encoding the behaviour of digital organisms in models that were adapted for simulation of food webs by Schmitz and Booth (1997). Autonomous digital organisms were introduced by Ray (1991Ray ( , 1994Ray ( , 1998 in his artificial world 'Tierra', which follows the laws of population genetics (Yedid and Bell, 2001) and can be used to elucidate processes such as the repeatability of evolutionary processes (Yedid and Bell, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of trophic structure

Bell

2007

Heredity

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The trophic relationships of an ecological community were represented by digital individuals consuming resources or prey within a simulated ecosystem and producing offspring that may differ from their parents. When individuals meet, a few simple rules are used to decide the outcome of their interaction. Trophically complex systems persist for long periods of time even in finite communities, provided that the strength of predator-prey interaction is sufficient to repay the cost of maintenance. The topology of the food web and important system-level attributes such as overall productivity follow from the rules of engagement: that is, the macroscopic properties of the ecosystem follow from the microscopic attributes of individuals, without the need to invoke the emergence of novel processes at the level of the whole system. Evolutionarily stable webs exist only when the pool of available species is small. If the pool is large, or speciation is allowed, species composition changes continually, while overall community properties are maintained. Ecologically separate and topologically different source webs based on the same pool of resources usually coexist for long periods of time, through negative frequencydependent selection at the level of the source web as a whole. Thus, the evolved food web of species-rich communities is a highly dynamic structure with continual species turnover. It both imposes selection on each species and itself responds to selection, but selection does not necessarily maximize stability, productivity or any other community property.

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“…While predators can reduce prey in at least two ways -by consuming them (a consumptive or density-mediated effect) or by altering their behavior, morphology, physiology, distribution, or life history (a non-consumptive or trait-mediated effect) (Abrams 1995;Lima and Dill 1990;Lima 1998), the relative importance of these two mechanisms in the dynamics of communities is not well resolved. Recent models have shown that incorporating the non-consumptive effects of predators can dramatically alter the conclusions drawn from classic models of predation (Abrams 1995;Schmitz and Booth 1997;Abrams and Schmitz 1999;Luttbeg and Schmitz 2000). In addition, a number of empirical studies in aquatic communities have found important non-consumptive effects of predators (e.g., Power 1987;Werner 1992;Persson 1999;Bernot and Turner 2001;Peacor and Werner 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral mechanisms underlie an ant-plant mutualism

2003

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Predators can reduce herbivory by consuming herbivores (a consumptive effect) and by altering herbivore behavior, life history, physiology or distribution (non-consumptive effects). The non-consumptive, or trait-mediated, effects of predators on prey may have important functions in the dynamics of communities. In a facultative ant-plant mutualism, we investigated whether these non-consumptive effects influenced the host plants of prey. Here, predaceous ants (Forelius pruinosus) consume and disturb a dominant lepidopteran folivore (Bucculatrix thurberiella) of wild cotton plants (Gossypium thurberi). Season-long ant exclusion experiments revealed that ants had a larger proportional effect on damage by B. thurberiella than on caterpillar abundance, a result that suggests ants have a strong non-consumptive effect. Behavioral experiments conducted in two populations over 2 years demonstrated that B. thurberiella caterpillars were substantially less likely to damage wild cotton leaves in the presence of ants due to ant-induced changes in caterpillar behavior. In the absence of ants caterpillars spent more time stationary (potential feeding time) and less time dropping from leaves by a thread of silk than when ants were present. Furthermore, ants altered the spatial distribution of both caterpillars and damage; caterpillars spent relatively more time on the upper surfaces of leaves and caused damage further from the leaf margin in ant exclusion treatments. Both direct encounters with ants and information conveyed when ants walked onto leaves were key events leading to the anti-predator behaviors of caterpillars. This study contributes to a small body of evidence from terrestrial systems demonstrating that the trait-mediated effects of predators can cascade to the host plants of prey.

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Modelling food web complexity: The consequences of individual-based, spatially explicit behavioural ecology on trophic interactions

Cited by 55 publications

References 28 publications

Predator identity and consumer behavior: differential effects of fish and crayfish on the habitat use of a freshwater snail

Predator identity and consumer behavior: differential effects of fish and crayfish on the habitat use of a freshwater snail

The evolution of trophic structure

Behavioral mechanisms underlie an ant-plant mutualism

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