Interactions between food-web structure and nutrients on pond organisms

THE suggestion that the densities of organisms are regulated by interactions involving entire food chains1 has resurfaced into a new debate about the role of population regulation in environments that vary in productivity2-5. Past work has shown that density responses of organisms to enhanced produc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1992-11, Vol.360 (6402), p.341-343
Main Authors: Leibold, Mathew A, Wilbur, Henry M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Aquatic life
Biological and medical sciences
Food supply
Fresh water ecosystems
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Synecology
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Summary:THE suggestion that the densities of organisms are regulated by interactions involving entire food chains1 has resurfaced into a new debate about the role of population regulation in environments that vary in productivity2-5. Past work has shown that density responses of organisms to enhanced productivity should be strongly affected by the number of trophic levels in the food chain6-11 but more recent theoretical work on this question has suggested that heterogeneity within a trophic level can be just as important12-15. Here we present direct experimental evidence for such an interaction between environmental productivity and the species composition of herbivores. Our results illustrate that differences in food-web structure similar to those documented in natural communities16,17 can dramatically alter how organisms will respond to abiotic factors such as nutrients that regulate primary productivity.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/360341a0