Adaptive foraging does not always lead to more complex food webs

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Theoretical Ecology
• Food Web Dynamics

Background:

• Previous modeling studies suggest consumer adaptivity in diet composition enhances food web complexity.
• These models typically use species-independent parameters and the search image model for adaptive foraging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of adaptive foraging on food web complexity by relaxing assumptions of species-independent parameters and exploring alternative foraging models.
• To compare the impact of the search image model versus the diet choice model on food web complexity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized population-dynamical models to simulate food web dynamics.
• Relaxed species-independent parameter assumptions, allowing for species-specific variations.
• Employed the diet choice model as an alternative to the search image model for describing adaptive foraging.

Main Results:

• The diet choice model showed no significant effect on food web complexity, even when the search image model did.
• The influence of adaptive foraging via the search image model decreased when parameters became species-independent.
• Adaptive foraging, particularly under the diet choice model, did not consistently lead to increased food web complexity.

Conclusions:

• Adaptive foraging does not universally enhance food web complexity.
• The choice of adaptive foraging model and parameter values significantly impacts the outcome of food web dynamics.
• Future research should carefully consider these factors in food web studies.