scholarly journals Adaptive behaviour, tri-trophic food-web stability and damping of chaos

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (71) ◽  
pp. 1373-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
André W. Visser ◽  
Patrizio Mariani ◽  
Simone Pigolotti
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
General Criterion ◽  
Foraging Effort ◽  
Trophic Transfer Efficiency ◽  
The Face ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Adaptive Foraging

We examine the effect of adaptive foraging behaviour within a tri-trophic food web with intra-guild predation. The intra-guild prey is allowed to adjust its foraging effort so as to achieve an optimal per capita growth rate in the face of realized feeding, predation risk and foraging cost. Adaptive fitness-seeking behaviour of the intra-guild prey has a stabilizing effect on the tri-trophic food-web dynamics provided that (i) a finite optimal foraging effort exists and (ii) the trophic transfer efficiency from resource to predator via the intra-guild prey is greater than that from the resource directly. The latter condition is a general criterion for the feasibility of intra-guild predation as a trophic mode. Under these conditions, we demonstrate rigorously that adaptive behaviour will always promote stability of community dynamics in the sense that the region of parameter space in which stability is achieved is larger than for the non-adaptive counterpart of the system.

scholarly journals Adaptive foraging behaviour of individual pollinators and the coexistence of co-flowering plants

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1776) ◽  
pp. 20132437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyuan Song ◽  
Marcus W. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Flower Constancy ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Adaptive Foraging

Although pollinators can play a central role in determining the structure and stability of plant communities, little is known about how their adaptive foraging behaviours at the individual level, e.g. flower constancy, structure these interactions. Here, we construct a mathematical model that integrates individual adaptive foraging behaviour and population dynamics of a community consisting of two plant species and a pollinator species. We find that adaptive foraging at the individual level, as a complementary mechanism to adaptive foraging at the species level, can further enhance the coexistence of plant species through niche partitioning between conspecific pollinators. The stabilizing effect is stronger than that of unbiased generalists when there is also strong competition between plant species over other resources, but less so than that of multiple specialist species. This suggests that adaptive foraging in mutualistic interactions can have a very different impact on the plant community structure from that in predator–prey interactions. In addition, the adaptive behaviour of individual pollinators may cause a sharp regime shift for invading plant species. These results indicate the importance of integrating individual adaptive behaviour and population dynamics for the conservation of native plant communities.

scholarly journals Link flexibility: evidence for environment-dependent adaptive foraging in a food web time-series

Ecology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1381-1387 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Henri ◽  
F. J. F. van Veen
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Link Flexibility ◽  
Adaptive Foraging

The erosion of filial piety by modernisation in Chinese cities

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHAU-KIU CHEUNG ◽  
ALEX YUI-HUEN KWAN
Keyword(s):  
Filial Piety ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Average Wage ◽  
Unresolved Issue ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
The Face ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Representative Samples

ABSTRACTWhether filial piety or financial support to older parents is eroded or maintained through societal modernisation is an unresolved issue in China and a matter of widespread concern. Whereas structural-functionalist theories predict erosion, alternative views suggest that modernisation reduces filial piety only minimally or conditionally. One possible condition that resists the modernisation effect is education. The impacts of modernisation and its interaction with Chinese education are therefore the focus of this study. Using various sources, the paper reports analyses of the relationships between the levels of modernisation in six Chinese cities, measured by average gross domestic product per capita, the average wage and the percentage of the workforce that are employed in the service sector, and variations in expressions of filial piety and cash payments to parents. Representative samples of the cities' adult residents were used. It was found that filial piety and cash payments were lower when the citizen was in a city with higher or more advanced modernisation, and that the reduction in affirmations of filial piety associated with higher modernisation was less among citizens with higher education. It is concluded that educational policy and practice can be a means to sustain filial piety in the face of modernisation.

scholarly journals Genetic diversity increases food-web persistence in the face of climate warming

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Barbour ◽  
Daniel J. Kliebenstein ◽  
Jordi Bascompte
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Allelic Variation ◽  
Chemical Defenses ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Warming Scenario ◽  
The Face ◽  
Loss Of Genetic Diversity

Genetic diversity provides the raw material for species to adapt and persist in the face of climate change. Yet, the extent to which these genetic effects scale at the level of ecological communities remains unclear. Here we experimentally test the effect of plant genetic diversity on the persistence of an insect food web under a current and future warming scenario. We found that plant genetic diversity increased food-web persistence by increasing the intrinsic growth rates of species across multiple trophic levels. This positive effect was robust to a 3°C warming scenario and resulted from allelic variation at two genes that control the biosynthesis of chemical defenses. Our results suggest that the ongoing loss of genetic diversity may undermine the persistence and functioning of ecosystems in a changing world.One Sentence SummaryThe loss of genetic diversity accelerates the extinction of inter-connected species from an experimental food web.

The Sun Always Rises

Bird on Fire ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Ross
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Local Market ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Face ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
National Director ◽  
Solar Resource

Nothing has driven the growth of metro Phoenix more than the sun’s rays. For most of its residents and visitors, the chief reason for coming to the region was its 334 days of annual sunshine, yet precious little of this radiation showed up in the energy supply. Indeed, Arizona has often been held up as an object of shame for the cause of solar power. Despite the bounty of its sun cover, by 2009 the state generated only 7 watts of photovoltaic power (PV) per capita, while New Jersey, with only half the available sunlight, managed 14.6 watts per capita, and Germany, with even less, delivered 100 watts to each person. If the solar industry was to have its long-deferred day in the United States, then the Valley of the Sun had to be at, or near the top, of the location list. Surely, it should be easier to generate “clean electrons” here than almost anywhere else. Yet the dismal historical record shows that the abundance of this natural resource mattered very little in the face of a political and economic environment that has prevented the sun’s energy from being enjoyed by its liberty-loving residents, let alone developed on an industrial scale. For a metropolis in the deepest trough of the Great Recession, the prospect of developing solar industry was just about the only source of boosterism I could find among the business community. Glenn Hamer, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, bragged that, with the help of federal and state incentives currently available, “the cocktail is in place for Arizona to truly be a national and international leader in solar. . . . with our incredible natural advantage, we have just about the world’s best solar resource.” Someone in his position could reasonably be expected to be gung ho about any new local market for investment, but Hamer also happened to be former national director of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

scholarly journals Moving beyond linear food chains: trait-mediated indirect interactions in a rocky intertidal food web

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1851) ◽  
pp. 20162590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey C. Trussell ◽  
Catherine M. Matassa ◽  
Patrick J. Ewanchuk
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Indirect Interactions ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Basal Resources ◽  
Crab Predation

In simple, linear food chains, top predators can have positive indirect effects on basal resources by causing changes in the traits (e.g. behaviour, feeding rates) of intermediate consumers. Although less is known about trait-mediated indirect interactions (TMIIs) in more complex food webs, it has been suggested that such complexity dampens trophic cascades. We examined TMIIs between a predatory crab ( Carcinus maenas ) and two ecologically important basal resources, fucoid algae ( Ascophyllum nodosum ) and barnacles ( Semibalanus balanoides ), which are consumed by herbivorous ( Littorina littorea ) and carnivorous ( Nucella lapillus ) snails, respectively. Because crab predation risk suppresses snail feeding rates, we hypothesized that crabs would also shape direct and indirect interactions among the multiple consumers and resources. We found that the magnitude of TMIIs between the crab and each resource depended on the suite of intermediate consumers present in the food web. Carnivorous snails ( Nucella ) transmitted TMIIs between crabs and barnacles. However, crab–algae TMIIs were transmitted by both herbivorous ( Littorina ) and carnivorous ( Nucella ) snails, and these TMIIs were additive. By causing Nucella to consume fewer barnacles, crab predation risk allowed fucoids that had settled on or between barnacles to remain in the community. Hence, positive interactions between barnacles and algae caused crab–algae TMIIs to be strongest when both consumers were present. Studies of TMIIs in more realistic, reticulate food webs will be necessary for a more complete understanding of how predation risk shapes community dynamics.

Beavers and lilies: selective herbivory and adaptive foraging behaviour

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Law ◽  
N. Bunnefeld ◽  
N. J. Willby
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Selective Herbivory ◽  
Adaptive Foraging

scholarly journals Future Climate Scenarios for a Coastal Productive Planktonic Food Web Resulting in Microplankton Phenology Changes and Decreased Trophic Transfer Efficiency

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e94388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Calbet ◽  
Andrey F. Sazhin ◽  
Jens C. Nejstgaard ◽  
Stella A. Berger ◽  
Zachary S. Tait ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Trophic Transfer ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Transfer Efficiency ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Planktonic Food ◽  
Trophic Transfer Efficiency
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