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Integrating food web diversity, structure and stability.

Neil Rooney¹, Kevin S McCann

¹School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada. nrooney@uoguelph.ca

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|September 28, 2011

Summary

Understanding species diversity is crucial due to extinction rates. Food web structures, shaped by evolution, explain species distribution and stability, linking diversity to ecosystem resilience.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Ecosystem Science

Background:

Species extinctions are occurring at an unprecedented rate, highlighting the need to understand ecosystem diversity.
Ecological studies have examined environmental factors influencing species diversity and its impact on ecosystem function.
Previous research often overlooked the role of food web structures, shaped by evolutionary and successional processes, in maintaining stability.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how large-scale food web structures influence the distribution of species diversity.
To explore the relationship between species diversity and food web stability, considering evolutionary and successional processes.
To elucidate the mechanisms by which structured food webs contribute to ecosystem stability.

Main Methods:

The study proposes a theoretical framework integrating food web structure with species diversity.
It analyzes the distribution of interaction strengths within food webs.
Focuses on the role of energy flow pathways in structuring food webs.

Main Results:

The allocation of species diversity to slow energy channels within food webs leads to a skewed distribution of interaction strengths.
This skewed distribution of interaction strengths confers stability to complex food webs.
Food web structures provide a unifying explanation for both species diversity patterns and ecosystem stability.

Conclusions:

Large-scale food web structures are key to understanding species diversity distribution and its link to stability.
The structured nature of food webs, particularly energy flow, is crucial for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
Further research should focus on the processes generating and maintaining these structured, stable, and diverse food webs.