Tri-trophic interactions: bridging species, communities and ecosystems

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Ecosystem Science

Background:

• Ecological and evolutionary processes are best understood through a tri-trophic viewpoint, considering interactions among multiple trophic levels.
• Current research is fragmented, focusing either on population/evolutionary ecology of food chains or ecosystem-level controls.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose pathways for bridging fragmented tri-trophic research perspectives.
• To argue for an expanded theory of tri-trophic interactions (TTIs) for unifying biological understanding across scales.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework development.
• Synthesis of existing research from population biology, evolutionary ecology, and ecosystem science.
• Proposing theoretical integration of TTIs.

Main Results:

• An expanded TTI theory can unify understanding from species evolution to ecosystem function.
• Requires understanding emergent properties of TTIs and their reciprocal shaping by ecosystem processes and abiotic factors.

Conclusions:

• Novel insights emerge from systematically applying tri-trophic theory across all biological organization levels.
• Integrating population, community, and ecosystem perspectives under TTIs is crucial for advancing ecological science.