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Cherif M, Brose U, Hirt MR, Ryser R, Silve V, Albert G, Arnott R, Berti E, Cirtwill A, Dyer A, Gauzens B, Gupta A, Ho HC, Portalier SMJ, Wain D, Wootton K. The environment to the rescue: can physics help predict predator-prey interactions? Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024. [PMID: 38855988 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
Understanding the factors that determine the occurrence and strength of ecological interactions under specific abiotic and biotic conditions is fundamental since many aspects of ecological community stability and ecosystem functioning depend on patterns of interactions among species. Current approaches to mapping food webs are mostly based on traits, expert knowledge, experiments, and/or statistical inference. However, they do not offer clear mechanisms explaining how trophic interactions are affected by the interplay between organism characteristics and aspects of the physical environment, such as temperature, light intensity or viscosity. Hence, they cannot yet predict accurately how local food webs will respond to anthropogenic pressures, notably to climate change and species invasions. Herein, we propose a framework that synthesises recent developments in food-web theory, integrating body size and metabolism with the physical properties of ecosystems. We advocate for combination of the movement paradigm with a modular definition of the predation sequence, because movement is central to predator-prey interactions, and a generic, modular model is needed to describe all the possible variation in predator-prey interactions. Pending sufficient empirical and theoretical knowledge, our framework will help predict the food-web impacts of well-studied physical factors, such as temperature and oxygen availability, as well as less commonly considered variables such as wind, turbidity or electrical conductivity. An improved predictive capability will facilitate a better understanding of ecosystem responses to a changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehdi Cherif
- Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Change Research Unit, National Research Institute for Agriculture Food and the Environment, 50 avenue de Verdun, Cestas Cedex, 33612, France
| | - Ulrich Brose
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Myriam R Hirt
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Remo Ryser
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Violette Silve
- Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Change Research Unit, National Research Institute for Agriculture Food and the Environment, 50 avenue de Verdun, Cestas Cedex, 33612, France
| | - Georg Albert
- Department of Forest Nature Conservation, Georg-August-Universität, Büsgenweg 3, Göttingen, 37077, Germany
| | - Russell Arnott
- Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 1LR, UK
| | - Emilio Berti
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Alyssa Cirtwill
- Spatial Foodweb Ecology Group, Research Centre for Ecological Change (REC), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 4 (Yliopistonkatu 3), Helsinki, 00014, Finland
| | - Alexander Dyer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Benoit Gauzens
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Straße 159, Jena, 07743, Germany
| | - Anhubav Gupta
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich, 8057, Switzerland
| | - Hsi-Cheng Ho
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, 106, Taiwan
| | - Sébastien M J Portalier
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa, STEM Complex, room 342, 150 Louis-Pasteur Pvt, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - Danielle Wain
- 7 Lakes Alliance, Belgrade Lakes, 137 Main St, Belgrade Lakes, ME, 04918, USA
| | - Kate Wootton
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
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2
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Cammarota D, Monteiro NZ, Menezes R, Fort H, Segura AM. Lotka-Volterra model with Allee effect: equilibria, coexistence and size scaling of maximum and minimum abundance. J Math Biol 2023; 87:82. [PMID: 37930406 DOI: 10.1007/s00285-023-02012-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
The Lotka-Volterra competition model (LVCM) is a fundamental tool for ecology, widely used to represent complex communities. The Allee effect (AE) is a phenomenon in which there is a positive correlation between population density and fitness, at low population densities. However, the interplay between the LVCM and AE has been seldom analyzed in multispecies models. Here, we analyze the mathematical properties of the LVCM [Formula: see text] AE, investigating the coexistence of species interacting through neutral diffuse competition, their equilibria and stable points. Minimum viable population density arises as the threshold below which species go extinct, characteristic of strong Allee effects. Then, by imposing relationships of main parameters to body size, i.e. allometric scaling, we derive a general solution to the size-scaling maximum and minimum expected density under plausible scenarios. The scaling of maximum population density is consistent with the literature, but we also provide novel predictions on the scaling of the lower limit to population density, a critical value for conservation science. The resulting framework is general and yields results that increase our current understanding of how complex demographic processes can be linked to ubiquitous ecological patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise Cammarota
- Institute of Theoretical Physics, São Paulo State University, R. Dr. Bento Teobaldo Ferraz, 271, São Paulo, SP, 01140-070, Brazil
| | - Noemi Zeraick Monteiro
- Postgraduate Program in Computational Modeling, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, R. José Lourenço Kelmer, Juiz de Fora, MG, 36036-900, Brazil
| | - Rafael Menezes
- Ecology Department, São Paulo University, Rua do Matão, 321, São Paulo, SP, 05508-090, Brazil
| | - Hugo Fort
- Faculty of Sciences, University of the Republic, Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Angel M Segura
- Modelización Estadística de Datos e Inteligencia Artificial- MEDIA, Centro Universitario Regional Este- CURE, Ruta 9 km 210, 72000, Rocha, Uruguay.
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3
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Perkins DM, Hatton IA, Gauzens B, Barnes AD, Ott D, Rosenbaum B, Vinagre C, Brose U. Consistent predator-prey biomass scaling in complex food webs. Nat Commun 2022; 13:4990. [PMID: 36008387 PMCID: PMC9411528 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32578-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The ratio of predator-to-prey biomass is a key element of trophic structure that is typically investigated from a food chain perspective, ignoring channels of energy transfer (e.g. omnivory) that may govern community structure. Here, we address this shortcoming by characterising the biomass structure of 141 freshwater, marine and terrestrial food webs, spanning a broad gradient in community biomass. We test whether sub-linear scaling between predator and prey biomass (a potential signal of density-dependent processes) emerges within ecosystem types and across levels of biological organisation. We find a consistent, sub-linear scaling pattern whereby predator biomass scales with the total biomass of their prey with a near ¾-power exponent within food webs - i.e. more prey biomass supports proportionally less predator biomass. Across food webs, a similar sub-linear scaling pattern emerges between total predator biomass and the combined biomass of all prey within a food web. These general patterns in trophic structure are compatible with a systematic form of density dependence that holds among complex feeding interactions across levels of organization, irrespective of ecosystem type. The ratio of predator-to-prey biomass is a key element in food webs. Here, the authors report a unified analysis of predator-prey biomass scaling in complex food webs, finding general patterns of sub-linear scaling across ecosystems and levels of organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Perkins
- School of Life and Health Sciences, Whitelands College, University of Roehampton, London, SW15 4JD, UK.
| | - Ian A Hatton
- Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
| | - Benoit Gauzens
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Andrew D Barnes
- Te Aka Mātuatua - School of Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - David Ott
- Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring (Zbm), Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113, Bonn, Germany
| | - Benjamin Rosenbaum
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Catarina Vinagre
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.,Centre of Marine Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Ulrich Brose
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
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Campillay-Llanos W, Córdova-Lepe FD, Moreno-Gómez FN. Coexistence, Energy, and Trophic Cascade in a Three-Level Food Chain Integrating Body Sizes. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.821176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Predation is a biological interaction that influences demographic patterns by modifying community structure. In the current ecological crisis, there is a need to better understand the conditions of coexistence between predators, prey and their resources. The body size is considered a key feature to explain community-scale phenomena, energetic, and evolutionary constraints. This raises the question of how species body size directly or indirectly affects the demographic patterns that enable coexistence. Considering the above, we conducted a theoretical study that implements a Rosenzweig-MacArthur type model, which represents a three-level chain that integrates body sizes and includes a Holling type I functional response. In this model, we characterize coexistence through body size-dependent net reproductive rates. Our results suggest that the body sizes of consumer species strongly affect the size-density relations and energy requirements. We obtain the negative relationship between body size and density of intermediate consumers and discuss the energy equivalence rule. Furthermore, larger predators have a more significant impact on the intensity of the trophic cascade than smaller predators. Finally, we discuss potential extensions and applications of our modeling approach.
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Portalier SMJ, Fussmann GF, Loreau M, Cherif M. Inferring Size-Based Functional Responses From the Physical Properties of the Medium. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.761984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
First derivations of the functional response were mechanistic, but subsequent uses of these functions tended to be phenomenological. Further understanding of the mechanisms underpinning predator-prey relationships might lead to novel insights into functional response in natural systems. Because recent consideration of the physical properties of the environment has improved our understanding of predator-prey interactions, we advocate the use of physics-based approaches for the derivation of the functional response from first principles. These physical factors affect the functional response by constraining the ability of both predators and prey to move according to their size. A physics-based derivation of the functional response should thus consider the movement of organisms in relation to their physical environment. One recent article presents a model along these criteria. As an initial validation of our claim, we use a slightly modified version of this model to derive the classical parameters of the functional response (i.e., attack rate and handling time) of aquatic organisms, as affected by body size, buoyancy, water density and viscosity. We compared the predictions to relevant data. Our model provided good fit for most parameters, but failed to predict handling time. Remarkably, this is the only parameter whose derivation did not rely on physical principles. Parameters in the model were not estimated from observational data. Hence, systematic discrepancies between predictions and real data point immediately to errors in the model. An added benefit to functional response derivation from physical principles is thus to provide easy ways to validate or falsify hypotheses about predator-prey relationships.
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Fritsch C, Billiard S, Champagnat N. Identifying conversion efficiency as a key mechanism underlying food webs adaptive evolution: a step forward, or backward? OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Pequeno PACL, Graça MB, Oliveira JR, Šobotník J, Acioli ANS. Can shifts in metabolic scaling predict coevolution between diet quality and body size? Evolution 2020; 75:141-148. [PMID: 33196103 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/25/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Larger species tend to feed on abundant resources, which nonetheless have lower quality or degradability, the so-called Jarman-Bell principle. The "eat more" hypothesis posits that larger animals compensate for lower quality diets through higher consumption rates. If so, evolutionary shifts in metabolic scaling should affect the scope for this compensation, but whether this has happened is unknown. Here, we investigated this issue using termites, major tropical detritivores that feed along a humification gradient ranging from dead plant tissue to mineral soil. Metabolic scaling is shallower in termites with pounding mandibles adapted to soil-like substrates than in termites with grinding mandibles adapted to fibrous plant tissue. Accordingly, we predicted that only larger species of the former group should have more humified, lower quality diets, given their higher scope to compensate for such a diet. Using literature data on 65 termite species, we show that diet humification does increase with body size in termites with pounding mandibles, but is weakly related to size in termites with grinding mandibles. Our findings suggest that evolution of metabolic scaling may shape the strength of the Jarman-Bell principle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro A C L Pequeno
- Roraima Research Nucleus, National Institute for Amazonia Research, R. Cel. Pinto, 315, Centro, Boa Vista - RR, CEP:, 69301-150, Brazil
| | - Márlon B Graça
- Federal Institute for Education, Science and Technology of Amazonas, Estr. Coari Itapeua, s/n - Itamarati, Coari - AM, CEP:, 69460-000, Brazil
| | - João R Oliveira
- Entomology Program, National Institute for Amazonia Research, Av. André Araújo, 2.936, Petrópolis, Manaus - AM, CEP: 69067-375, Brazil
| | - Jan Šobotník
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 00 Praha 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic
| | - Agno N S Acioli
- Faculty of Agrarian Sciences, Federal University of Amazonas, Av. General Rodrigo Octavio Jordão Ramos, 1200, Coroado I, Manaus - AM, CEP: 69067-005, Brazil
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Ho HC, Tylianakis JM, Pawar S. Behaviour moderates the impacts of food-web structure on species coexistence. Ecol Lett 2020; 24:298-309. [PMID: 33205909 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
How species coexistence (mathematical 'feasibility') in food webs emerges from species' trophic interactions remains a long-standing open question. Here we investigate how structure (network topology and body-size structure) and behaviour (foraging strategy and spatial dimensionality of interactions) interactively affect feasibility in food webs. Metabolically-constrained modelling of food-web dynamics based on whole-organism consumption revealed that feasibility is promoted in systems dominated by large-eat-small foraging (consumers eating smaller resources) whenever (1) many top consumers are present, (2) grazing or sit-and-wait foraging strategies are common, and (3) species engage in two-dimensional interactions. Congruently, the first two conditions were associated with dominance of large-eat-small foraging in 74 well-resolved (primarily aquatic) real-world food webs. Our findings provide a new, mechanistic understanding of how behavioural properties can modulate the effects of structural properties on species coexistence in food webs, and suggest that 'being feasible' constrains the spectra of behavioural and structural properties seen in natural food webs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsi-Cheng Ho
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Jason M Tylianakis
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Samraat Pawar
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK
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Quévreux P, Barot S, Thébault É. Interplay between the paradox of enrichment and nutrient cycling in food webs. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Quévreux
- Sorbonne Univ., Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Diderot Univ. Paris 07, CNRS, INRA, IRD, UPEC, Inst. d'Écologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement – Paris, iEES‐Paris Paris France
| | - Sébastien Barot
- Sorbonne Univ., Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Diderot Univ. Paris 07, CNRS, INRA, IRD, UPEC, Inst. d'Écologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement – Paris, iEES‐Paris Paris France
| | - Élisa Thébault
- Sorbonne Univ., Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Diderot Univ. Paris 07, CNRS, INRA, IRD, UPEC, Inst. d'Écologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement – Paris, iEES‐Paris Paris France
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Hirt MR, Tucker M, Müller T, Rosenbaum B, Brose U. Rethinking trophic niches: Speed and body mass colimit prey space of mammalian predators. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:7094-7105. [PMID: 32760514 PMCID: PMC7391329 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2019] [Revised: 05/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Realized trophic niches of predators are often characterized along a one-dimensional range in predator-prey body mass ratios. This prey range is constrained by an "energy limit" and a "subdue limit" toward small and large prey, respectively. Besides these body mass ratios, maximum speed is an additional key component in most predator-prey interactions.Here, we extend the concept of a one-dimensional prey range to a two-dimensional prey space by incorporating a hump-shaped speed-body mass relation. This new "speed limit" additionally constrains trophic niches of predators toward fast prey.To test this concept of two-dimensional prey spaces for different hunting strategies (pursuit, group, and ambush predation), we synthesized data on 63 terrestrial mammalian predator-prey interactions, their body masses, and maximum speeds.We found that pursuit predators hunt smaller and slower prey, whereas group hunters focus on larger but mostly slower prey and ambushers are more flexible. Group hunters and ambushers have evolved different strategies to occupy a similar trophic niche that avoids competition with pursuit predators. Moreover, our concept suggests energetic optima of these hunting strategies along a body mass axis and thereby provides mechanistic explanations for why there are no small group hunters (referred to as "micro-lions") or mega-carnivores (referred to as "mega-cheetahs").Our results demonstrate that advancing the concept of prey ranges to prey spaces by adding the new dimension of speed will foster a new and mechanistic understanding of predator trophic niches and improve our predictions of predator-prey interactions, food web structure, and ecosystem functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Myriam R. Hirt
- EcoNetLabGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany
- Institute of BiodiversityFriedrich Schiller University JenaJenaGermany
| | - Marlee Tucker
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK‐F)FrankfurtGermany
- Department of Biological SciencesGoethe‐UniversityFrankfurtGermany
- Department of Environmental ScienceInstitute for Wetland and Water ResearchRadboud UniversityNijmegenthe Netherlands
| | - Thomas Müller
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK‐F)FrankfurtGermany
- Department of Biological SciencesGoethe‐UniversityFrankfurtGermany
| | - Benjamin Rosenbaum
- EcoNetLabGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany
- Institute of BiodiversityFriedrich Schiller University JenaJenaGermany
| | - Ulrich Brose
- EcoNetLabGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐LeipzigLeipzigGermany
- Institute of BiodiversityFriedrich Schiller University JenaJenaGermany
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Martinez ND. Allometric Trophic Networks From Individuals to Socio-Ecosystems: Consumer–Resource Theory of the Ecological Elephant in the Room. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
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