Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength
Abstract In the face of stochastic climatic perturbations, the overall stability of an ecosystem will be determined by the balance between its resilience and its resistance, but their relative importance is still unknown. Using aquatic food web models we study ecosystem stability as a function of fo...
Published in: | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61878 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 |
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fttrinitycoll:oai:tara.tcd.ie:2262/61878 2023-05-15T14:04:40+02:00 Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength 2012-01-28T01:58:02Z http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61878 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 en eng Elsevier 00225193 (ISSN) S0022-5193(10)00638-7 (PII) S0022-5193(10)00638-7 (publisherID) http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61878 Journal of Theoretical Biology 272 1 160 doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 2010 12 months Food web complexity Resilience Resistance Stability Ecosystem Models Nutrient recycling 2012 fttrinitycoll https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 2020-02-16T13:53:23Z Abstract In the face of stochastic climatic perturbations, the overall stability of an ecosystem will be determined by the balance between its resilience and its resistance, but their relative importance is still unknown. Using aquatic food web models we study ecosystem stability as a function of food web complexity. We measured three dynamical stability properties: resilience, resistance, and variability. Specifically, we evaluate how a decrease in the strength of predator-prey interactions with food web complexity, reflecting a decrease in predation efficiency with the number of prey per predator, affects the overall stability of the ecosystem. We find that in mass conservative ecosystems, a lower interaction strength slows down the mass cycling rate in the system and this increases its resistance to perturbations of the growth rate of primary producers. Furthermore, we show that the overall stability of the food webs is mostly given by their resistance, and not by their resilience. Resilience and resistance display opposite trends, although they are shown not to be simply opposite concepts but rather independent properties. The ecological implication is that weaker predator-prey interactions in closed ecosystems can stabilize food web dynamics by increasing its resistance to climatic perturbations. correspondence: Corresponding author. Tel: +1 617 4524 581; fax: +1 617 2534 464. (Vallina, Sergio M.) vallina@mit.edu (Vallina, Sergio M.) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia - Norwich--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Vallina, Sergio M.) Earth--> , Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences--> , MIT--> , Cambridge--> - UNITED STATES (Vallina, Sergio M.) UNITED STATES (Vallina, Sergio M.) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia - Norwich--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Le Quere, Corinne) British Antarctic Survey--> , Cambridge--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Le Quere, Corinne) UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES Received: 2010-02-11 Revised: 2010-11-25 Accepted: 2010-11-29 Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey The University of Dublin, Trinity College: TARA (Trinity's Access to Research Archive) Antarctic Journal of Theoretical Biology 272 1 160 173 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Dublin, Trinity College: TARA (Trinity's Access to Research Archive) |
op_collection_id |
fttrinitycoll |
language |
English |
topic |
Food web complexity Resilience Resistance Stability Ecosystem Models Nutrient recycling |
spellingShingle |
Food web complexity Resilience Resistance Stability Ecosystem Models Nutrient recycling Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
topic_facet |
Food web complexity Resilience Resistance Stability Ecosystem Models Nutrient recycling |
description |
Abstract In the face of stochastic climatic perturbations, the overall stability of an ecosystem will be determined by the balance between its resilience and its resistance, but their relative importance is still unknown. Using aquatic food web models we study ecosystem stability as a function of food web complexity. We measured three dynamical stability properties: resilience, resistance, and variability. Specifically, we evaluate how a decrease in the strength of predator-prey interactions with food web complexity, reflecting a decrease in predation efficiency with the number of prey per predator, affects the overall stability of the ecosystem. We find that in mass conservative ecosystems, a lower interaction strength slows down the mass cycling rate in the system and this increases its resistance to perturbations of the growth rate of primary producers. Furthermore, we show that the overall stability of the food webs is mostly given by their resistance, and not by their resilience. Resilience and resistance display opposite trends, although they are shown not to be simply opposite concepts but rather independent properties. The ecological implication is that weaker predator-prey interactions in closed ecosystems can stabilize food web dynamics by increasing its resistance to climatic perturbations. correspondence: Corresponding author. Tel: +1 617 4524 581; fax: +1 617 2534 464. (Vallina, Sergio M.) vallina@mit.edu (Vallina, Sergio M.) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia - Norwich--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Vallina, Sergio M.) Earth--> , Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences--> , MIT--> , Cambridge--> - UNITED STATES (Vallina, Sergio M.) UNITED STATES (Vallina, Sergio M.) School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia - Norwich--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Le Quere, Corinne) British Antarctic Survey--> , Cambridge--> - UNITED KINGDOM (Le Quere, Corinne) UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES Received: 2010-02-11 Revised: 2010-11-25 Accepted: 2010-11-29 |
title |
Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
title_short |
Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
title_full |
Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
title_fullStr |
Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
title_sort |
stability of complex food webs: resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61878 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic British Antarctic Survey |
op_relation |
00225193 (ISSN) S0022-5193(10)00638-7 (PII) S0022-5193(10)00638-7 (publisherID) http://hdl.handle.net/2262/61878 Journal of Theoretical Biology 272 1 160 doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 |
op_rights |
2010 12 months |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.11.043 |
container_title |
Journal of Theoretical Biology |
container_volume |
272 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
160 |
op_container_end_page |
173 |
_version_ |
1766275885487357952 |