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Related Concept Videos

Neuroplasticity01:01

Neuroplasticity

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Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
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Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.
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The extended Debye-Hückel equation indicates that the activity coefficient of an ion in an aqueous solution at 25°C depends on three partially interdependent properties: the ionic strength of the solution, the charge of the ion, and the ion size. 
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Plasticity is the property where an object loses its elasticity and undergoes irreversible deformation, even after the deformation forces are eliminated. If a material deforms irreversibly without increasing stress or load, then this is called ideal plasticity. For example, when a force is applied to an aluminum rod, it changes its shape, but it does not return to its original shape once the force is removed. Plastic deformation or ductility is thus a permanent deformation or change in the...
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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 26, 2025

Using the Activity-based Anorexia Rodent Model to Study the Neurobiological Basis of Anorexia Nervosa
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Adaptive plasticity in activity modes and food web stability.

Akihiko Mougi1

  • 1Institute of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Academic Assembly, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.

Plos One
|April 21, 2022
PubMed
Summary

Ecological communities can be stabilized by species switching between active and inactive states. This adaptive phenotypic change in activity modes is key to understanding food web dynamics and maintaining ecosystem stability.

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Systems Ecology

Background:

  • Natural ecosystems exhibit high biodiversity and complex interspecific interactions.
  • Ecological theory predicts instability in large ecological communities, creating a stability-complexity gap.
  • Traditional food web models assume continuous species activity, overlooking periods of inactivity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore mechanisms stabilizing complex ecological communities.
  • To investigate the role of adaptive phenotypic change in active and inactive modes within food webs.
  • To address the gap between ecological theory and observed community stability.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of ecological networks and food web dynamics.
  • Incorporation of adaptive phenotypic plasticity in species' activity modes (active/inactive).

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  • Analysis of community stability under varying conditions of species interaction and activity patterns.

    • Main Results:

    • Adaptive switching between active and inactive modes significantly stabilizes otherwise unstable communities.
    • This mechanism allows for the coexistence of species that would otherwise be unable to co-exist.
    • Strong stabilization effects are maintained even in large and complex ecological communities.

    Conclusions:

    • Adaptive phenotypic change in activity modes is a crucial factor for food web dynamics and community stability.
    • The ability of species to switch activity states offers a novel explanation for the persistence of complex ecosystems.
    • This plasticity may be a key mechanism maintaining ecological communities in nature.