Sea urchin consumption of kelp controlled by the density of drift algae
Rocky reef kelp forests can exhibit abrupt shifts between forested and barren states where unchecked sea urchin grazing inhibits kelp recovery. Forefront to urchin barren …
In defense of Type I functional responses: The frequency and population-dynamic effects of feeding on multiple prey at a time
Ecologists differ in the degree to which they consider the linear Type I functional response to be an unrealistic versus sufficient representation of predator feeding rates. …
Simple, universal rules predict trophic interaction strengths
Many critical drivers of ecological systems exhibit regular scaling relationships, yet, often, the underlying mechanisms explaining these relationships are unknown. Trophic …
Corrigendum: Geometric complexity and the information-theoretic comparison of functional-response models
Due to an error in our formulation of the citardauq solution to quadratic equations, our reformulation of the Steady State Saturation (SSS) model of Jeschke et al. (2002) to a …
High variation in handling times confers 35-year stability to predator feeding rates despite community change
Historical resurveys of ecological communities are important for placing the structure of modern ecosystems in context. Rarely, however, are surveys alone sufficient for providing …
Predator feeding rates may often be unsaturated under typical prey densities
Predator feeding rates (described by their functional response) must saturate at high prey densities. Although thousands of manipulative functional response experiments show …
Grazer-resource behavior, interactions, and feedbacks control kelp-forest dynamics and stability
How the direct and indirect effects of species interactions cascade to affect community struc- ture, functioning, and stability is a fundamental question in ecology. In temperate …
Collective behaviour can stabilize ecosystems
Collective behaviour is common in bacteria, plants, and animals, and thus across ecosystems, from biofilms to cities. With collective behaviour, social interactions among …
ben-dalziel
Geometric complexity and the information-theoretic comparison of functional-response models
The assessment of relative model performance using information criteria like AIC and BIC has become routine among functional-response studies, reflecting trends in the broader …
Systematic bias in studies of consumer functional responses
Functional responses are a cornerstone to our understanding of consumer-resource interactions, so how to best describe them using models has been actively debated. Here we focus on …
Hidden layers of density dependence in consumer feeding rates
Functional responses relate a consumer's feeding rates to variation in its abiotic and biotic environment, providing insight into consumer behaviour and fitness, and underpinning …
daniel-stouffer
State-structured species interactions and their consequences across levels of biological organization
A central challenge for ecology is to understand the dynamic nature of species interactions. A classic approach to community ecology assumes that individuals within a species are …
What drives interaction strengths in complex food webs? A test with feeding rates of a generalist stream predator
Describing the mechanisms that drive variation in species interaction strengths is central to understanding, predicting, and managing community dynamics. Multiple factors have been …
Quantifying predator dependence in the functional response of generalist predators
A long‐standing debate concerns how functional responses are best described. Theory suggests that ratio dependence is consistent with many food web patterns left unexplained by …
Experimental demonstration of a trophic cascade in the Galápagos rocky subtidal: Effects of consumer identity and behavior
In diverse tropical webs, trophic cascades are presumed to be rare, as species interactions may dampen top-down control and reduce their prevalence. To test this hypothesis, we …
jon-witman
Bayesian characterization of uncertainty in species interaction strengths
Considerable effort has been devoted to the estimation of species interaction strengths. This effort has focused primarily on statistical significance testing and obtaining point …
Trophic omnivory across a productivity gradient: intraguild predation theory and the structure and strength of species interactions
Intraguild predation theory centres on two predictions: (i) for an omnivore and an intermediate predator (IG-prey) to coexist on shared resources, the IG-prey must be the superior …
Using the functional response of a consumer to predict biotic resistance to invasive prey
Predators sometimes provide biotic resistance against invasions by nonnative prey. Understanding and predicting the strength of biotic resistance remains a key challenge in …
laura-twardochleb
Using experimental indices to quantify the strength of species interactions
Few methods for demonstrating the effects of species interactions rival that of the manipulative experiment (Kareiva and Levin 2002). The now commonly performed removal or …
Estimating interaction strengths in nature: experimental support for an observational approach
The complexity of food webs poses a significant hurdle for our growing understanding of the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. Empirical methods that measure the …
Estimating nonlinear interaction strengths: an observation-based method for species-rich food webs
Efforts to estimate the strength of species interactions in species‐rich, reticulate food webs have been hampered by the multitude of direct and indirect interactions such systems …