There's no harm in having too much: A comprehensive toolbox of methods in trophic ecology

Abstract

Trophic ecology is the study of feeding interactions and food acquisition by organisms. It includes the causes and consequences of those behaviours at all levels of biological organisation. As a field of research, it crosses many disciplinary boundaries and provides knowledge that is pertinent to many other areas of ecology. Here we list and categorise the methods available to trophic ecologists whose toolbox has broadened considerably in recent years. They encompass empirical and numerical approaches with focus ranging from molecules to ecosystems. We further examine the relationship of each method to features such as the scale of observation (from microbes to largest organisms) and organisational level (from individuals to ecosystems) as well as the ecological question the method is capable of answering (from detecting predator-prey relationships to studying implications and consequences at different scales). Our survey reveals a very wide range of methodologies, each more-or-less appropriate for a particular line of research. It also identifies deficits, for example, trophic interactions at microscopic scales, for which empirical methods have hardly been used, as well as trophic models that have failed to consider fluxes at the ecosystem scale. Furthermore, we note that the combination of methodologies remains under-exploited despite great opportunities to solve complex ecological questions and to foster the emergence of new insights and hypotheses regarding organism, population and/or ecosystem properties.

Body stoichiometry of heterotrophs: Assessing drivers of interspecific variations in elemental composition

“…This modest magnitude of effects of the drivers studied might be explained, in part, by their relatively crude resolution in our database. Indeed, diet types can be assessed more finely thanks to discrete trophic levels, functional trophic guilds or isotopic niches (Majdi et al., 2018; McIntyre & Flecker, 2010). In the same vein, habitat definition can be detailed more finely to account for finer‐scale habitat variation, or environmental variables can be used instead (Zhang & Elser, 2017).…”

Body stoichiometry of heterotrophs: assessing drivers of interspecific variations in elemental composition

“…This modest magnitude of effects of the drivers studied may be partly explained by their relatively crude resolution in our database. Indeed, diet types may be more finely assessed thanks to discrete trophic levels, functional trophic guilds or isotopic niches (Majdi et al, 2018; McIntyre & Flecker, 2010). In the same vein, habitat definition may be more finely detailed so as to account for finer-scale habitat variation or environmental variables may be used instead (Zhang & Elser, 2017).…”

Who is eating fructose within the Aedes albopictus gut microbiota?

“…Trophic interactions between symbionts and their insect hosts rely on mainly the acquisition of nutrients and energy for both partners (de Ruiter and Moore, ; Majdi et al ., ). In insects, some endosymbionts provide additional metabolic pathways that are complementary to host metabolic functions.…”