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Emergent competition shapes top-down versus bottom-up control in multi-trophic ecosystems
Zhijie Feng1, Robert Marsland1, Jason W Rocks1
1Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Plos Computational Biology
|February 8, 2024
Summary
Ecosystems exhibit emergent competition between species within trophic levels due to complex food web interactions. This competition drives a shift from top-down to bottom-up control, impacting ecosystem properties.
Area of Science:
- Theoretical Ecology
- Ecosystem Dynamics
- Food Web Theory
Background:
- Ecosystems are structured into trophic levels, forming food chains.
- Understanding how trophic structure, diversity, and competition influence ecosystems is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze a three-trophic-level Consumer Resource Model.
- To investigate the effects of intra-trophic diversity on ecosystem properties.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the zero-temperature cavity method.
- Performed numerical simulations.
- Derived mean-field cavity equations.
Main Results:
- Intra-trophic diversity generates emergent competition between species.
- This emergent competition causes a shift from top-down to bottom-up ecosystem control.
- An order parameter, based on surviving species ratios, captures this control shift.
Conclusions:
- The theoretical model aligns with empirical observations.
- This approach can be applied to understand complex, multi-trophic-level ecosystems.
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