Keystone and intraguild predation, intraspecific density dependence, and a guild of coexisting consumers

Previous models of diamond-shaped and intraguild predation community modules have represented the essence of the trade-off necessary for a top predator to prevent competitive exclusion among a set of resource-limited consumers. However, at most two consumers can coexist in these models. In this article, I show how intraspecific density dependence in the consumers can permit many more than two consumers to coexist in these community modules. Moreover, responses of the community to removal of the top predator depend on the patterns of the strengths of species interactions relative to the strengths of intraspecific density dependence. If the consumers experience similar strengths of intraspecific density dependence, removing the top predator will in most cases have little effect on consumer species richness. A substantial reduction in consumer species richness with predator removal (i.e., the keystone predation effect) will typically occur only when the consumer that can support a population at the lowest resource abundance also (1) experiences substantially weaker intraspecific density dependence than other consumers and (2) experiences significantly higher levels of mortality from the predator. These results identify how intraspecific density dependence fosters the coexistence of multiple consumers in two important community modules and shapes the responses of these community modules to perturbations such as predator removal.