More Modules

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin S. McCann
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Intraguild Predation ◽  
Weak Interactions ◽  
Apparent Competition ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Variable Population ◽  
The Stability

This chapter considers four-species modules and the role of generalism (effectively a three-species module with a consumer feeding on two resources). It first examines how generalists affect the dynamics of food webs by focusing on a set of modules that contrast generalist consumer dynamics relative to the specialist case. It then discusses organismal trade-offs that play a role in governing the diamond food web module and the intraguild predation module, arguing that such tradeoffs influence the flux of matter, the organization of interaction strengths, and ultimately the stability of communities. The chapter also reviews empirical evidence showing that apparent competition and the diamond module with and without intraguild predation are ubiquitous, and that weak interactions in simple modules seem to promote less variable population dynamics.

scholarly journals POPULATION DYNAMICS ON COMPLEX FOOD WEBS

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. 635-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIAN MARCO PALAMARA ◽  
VINKO ZLATIĆ ◽  
ANTONIO SCALA ◽  
GUIDO CALDARELLI
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Niche Model ◽  
Ecological Complexity ◽  
Overlap Graphs ◽  
Dynamical Properties ◽  
The Stability

In this work we analyze the topological and dynamical properties of a simple model of complex food webs, namely the niche model. In order to underline competition among species, we introduce "prey" and "predators" weighted overlap graphs derived from the niche model and compare synthetic food webs with real data. Doing so, we find new tests for the goodness of synthetic food web models and indicate a possible direction of improvement for existing ones. We then exploit the weighted overlap graphs to define a competition kernel for Lotka–Volterra population dynamics and find that for such a model the stability of food webs decreases with its ecological complexity.

scholarly journals Strong nutrient-plant interactions enhance the stability of ecosystems

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachariah G. Schonberger ◽  
Kevin McCann ◽  
Gabriel Gellner
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Ecosystem Models ◽  
Resource Interactions ◽  
Ecosystem Theory ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Ecosystem Interactions ◽  
Food Web Theory

AbstractModular food web theory shows how weak energetic fluxes resulting from consumptive interactions plays a major role in stabilizing food webs in space and time. Despite the reliance on energetic fluxes, food web theory surprisingly remains poorly understood within an ecosystem context that naturally focuses on material fluxes. At the same time, while ecosystem theory has employed modular nutrient-limited ecosystem models to understand how limiting nutrients alter the structure and dynamics of food webs, ecosystem theory has overlooked the role of key ecosystem interactions and their strengths (e.g., plant-nutrient; R-N) in mediating the stability of nutrient-limited ecosystems. Here, towards integrating food web theory and ecosystem theory, we first briefly review consumer-resource interactions (C-R) highlighting the relationship between the structure of C-R interactions and the stability of food web modules. We then translate this framework to nutrient-based systems, showing that the nutrient-plant interaction behaves as a coherent extension of current modular food web theory; however, in contrast to the rule that weak C-R interactions tend to be stabilizing we show that strong nutrient-plant interactions are potent stabilizers in nutrient-limited ecosystem models.

scholarly journals High-magnitude innovators as keystone individuals in the evolution of culture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Arbilly
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Keystone Species ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Independent Innovation ◽  
High Magnitude ◽  
Behavioural Repertoire

AbstractBorrowing from the concept of keystone species in ecological food webs, a recent focus in the field of animal behaviour has been keystone individuals: individuals whose impact on population dynamics is disproportionally larger than their frequency in the population. In populations evolving culture, such may be the role of high-magnitude innovators: individuals whose innovations are a major departure from the population’s existing behavioural repertoire. Their effect on cultural evolution is twofold: they produce innovations that constitute a ‘cultural leap’, and, once copied, their innovations may induce further innovations by conspecifics (socially induced innovations), as they explore the new behaviour themselves. I use computer simulations to study the co-evolution of independent innovations, socially induced innovations, and innovation magnitude, and show that while socially induced innovation is assumed here to be less costly than independent innovation, it does not readily evolve. When it evolves, it may in some conditions select against independent innovation and lower its frequency, despite it requiring independent innovation in order to operate; at the same time, however, it leads to much faster cultural evolution. These results confirm the role of high-magnitude innovators as keystones, and suggest a novel explanation for low frequency of independent innovation.

scholarly journals Existence and construction of large stable food webs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan O. Haerter ◽  
Namiko Mitarai ◽  
Kim Sneppen
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Weak Interactions ◽  
Apparent Competition ◽  
Species Interaction ◽  
Volterra Equations ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Nonlinear Functional ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Simple Product

AbstractEcological diversity is ubiquitous despite the restrictions imposed by competitive exclusion and apparent competition. To explain the observed richness of species in a given habitat, food web theory has explored nonlinear functional responses, self-interaction or spatial structure and dispersal — model ingredients that have proven to promote stability and diversity. We here instead return to classical Lotka-Volterra equations, where species-species interaction is characterized by a simple product and spatial restrictions are ignored. We quantify how this idealization imposes constraints on coexistence and diversity for many species. To this end, we introduce the concept of free and controlled species and use this to demonstrate how stable food webs can be constructed by sequential addition of species. When we augment the resulting network by additional weak interactions we are able to show that it is possible to construct large food webs of arbitrary connectivity. Our model thus serves as a formal starting point for the study of sustainable interaction patterns between species.

Population Dynamics of Social Species under Perturbations

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-67
Author(s):  
Daniel Oro
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Abrupt Changes ◽  
Riverine Habitats ◽  
Original Habitat ◽  
The Stability

The detection of abrupt changes in natural populations of social and nonsocial animals as a result of perturbations is challenging. This chapter highlights some empirical examples from the literature and the author’s own studies, and the responses of populations of species with different degree of sociality are compared. To overcome the difficulties of obtaining field population data, theoretical approaches can be very useful for simulating these responses from social feedbacks. These models show the influence of social information and social copying to generate nonlinear population dynamics, such as bifurcations and cascades. The chapter’s final section explores the stability properties of populations subjected to perturbations and the role of social feedbacks for resilience. These properties depend on the time of occupation of the patch, its suitability compared to other patches, and the type of perturbation (e.g. pulsed, in regime, or in combination). This section ends by exploring how social copying influences collective cultural innovations of social populations under perturbations. For instance, the American Pueblo tribe colonized riverine habitats and changed their way of living following the collapse of their original habitat due to droughts and tribal fights.

A Statistical Study of Process Variables to Optimize a High Speed Curtain Coater: Part I

TAPPI Journal ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
PEEYUSH TRIPATHI ◽  
MARGARET JOYCE ◽  
PAUL D. FLEMING ◽  
MASAHIRO SUGIHARA
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Statistical Study ◽  
Process Variables ◽  
High Speeds ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Air Removal ◽  
Removal System

Using an experimental design approach, researchers altered process parameters and material prop-erties to stabilize the curtain of a pilot curtain coater at high speeds. Part I of this paper identifies the four significant variables that influence curtain stability. The boundary layer air removal system was critical to the stability of the curtain and base sheet roughness was found to be very important. A shear thinning coating rheology and higher curtain heights improved the curtain stability at high speeds. The sizing of the base sheet affected coverage and cur-tain stability because of its effect on base sheet wettability. The role of surfactant was inconclusive. Part II of this paper will report on further optimization of curtain stability with these four variables using a D-optimal partial-facto-rial design.

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