Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Threats to Biodiversity01:50

Threats to Biodiversity

There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
Conservation of Declining Populations02:07

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
Trophic Levels01:35

Trophic Levels

All organisms in an ecosystem occupy a trophic level in the food chain. The lowest level consists of primary producers, which synthesize their food from either solar or chemical energy. Each subsequent level obtains energy from the levels below. Detritivores can occupy any of the levels above primary producers.
Habitat Fragmentation02:31

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
Ecological Succession02:17

Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is influenced by the processes of facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. Facilitation occurs when early successional species create more favorable ecological conditions for subsequent species, such as enhanced nutrient, water, or light availability. In contrast, inhibition happens when early successional species create unfavorable ecological conditions for potential successive species, such as limiting resource availability. In some cases, later successional species...
Keystone Species01:39

Keystone Species

Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ecological community’s structure. Many factors affect community structure, including abiotic factors (e.g., sunlight and nutrients), disturbances (e.g., fire or flood), species interactions (e.g., predation or competition), and chance events (e.g., foreign species invasion). Certain species—such as keystone species—also play a pivotal role in the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A minimally invasive, scalable and reproducible neonatal rat model of severe focal brain injury.

Brain communications·2026
Same author

Renovating Neural Networks With Viral-Mediated Gene Transfer From A Tissue Contacting Matrix Mimic.

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)·2026
Same author

Staying one step ahead of chronic wounds by designing symbiotic, responsive functionality into dynamic nanohydrogels.

Journal of materials chemistry. B·2025
Same author

A Comprehensive Review of the Pathophysiology of Neonatal Stroke and a Critique of Current and Future Therapeutic Strategies.

Cells·2025
Same author

Innovative Hydrogel-Based Treatments for Neonatal Stroke.

Stroke·2025
Same author

Insights into the Mechanism Underpinning Composite Molecular Docking During the Self-Assembly of Fucoidan Biopolymers with Peptide Nanofibrils.

Marine drugs·2025
Same journal

The microlandscapes of tree trunks: the effect of lichen and tree-level characteristics on arthropod communities.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
Same journal

Centimetre-scale landscapes to assess the motion behaviour and cognition of gastropods and bivalves.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
Same journal

Intertidal microcosms of wave-swept rocky shores: ecological and physiological insights from a uniquely stressful environment.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
Same journal

Temporal and spatial variation in temperature and oxygen at the microscale: key niche axes for aquatic life.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
Same journal

Natural microcosms in ecology: fulfilling the promise of model systems?

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
Same journal

Microbe-induced galls and plant defence: metabolite crosstalk in a co-evolutionary battle.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter
10:20

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Cascading extinctions and community collapse in model food webs.

Jennifer A Dunne1, Richard J Williams

  • 1Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA. jdunne@santafe.edu

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|May 20, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Ecosystems face secondary extinctions from species loss. Realistic food-web models show increased diversity and complexity enhance robustness against species removals, unlike simpler models.

More Related Videos

Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
07:59

Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities

Published on: January 6, 2023

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
07:41

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems

Published on: July 30, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter
10:20

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
07:59

Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities

Published on: January 6, 2023

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
07:41

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems

Published on: July 30, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Food Web Dynamics

Background:

  • Species loss can trigger secondary extinctions through complex ecological interactions.
  • Understanding food web structure is crucial for predicting ecosystem stability and resilience.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare secondary extinction levels across different food-web structural models.
  • To assess the impact of species loss sequences on food-web integrity.
  • To relate structural integrity metrics to model assumptions, diversity, and complexity.

Main Methods:

  • Simulated sequential primary species removals in five distinct food-web models (four structural, one null).
  • Analyzed food-web structural integrity, including robustness, community collapse, and threshold periods.
  • Examined relationships between structural integrity and measures of diversity (species richness S) and complexity (connectance C).

Main Results:

  • Hierarchical feeding structures, while realistic, can reduce food-web robustness.
  • Exponential link distributions in realistic models generally enhance structural robustness compared to less skewed distributions.
  • Increased species richness (S) and connectance (C) in realistic models correlate with greater robustness and less community collapse.
  • Realistic models show unexpected sensitivity to the removal of species with few links.

Conclusions:

  • Food-web structure significantly influences secondary extinction dynamics and ecosystem resilience.
  • Realistic food-web models incorporating exponential link distributions offer greater robustness.
  • Diversity and complexity are key factors in maintaining food-web structural integrity against species loss.