Fit, efficiency, and biology: some thoughts on judging food web models |
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Authors: | Petchey Owen L Beckerman Andrew P Riede Jens O Warren Philip H |
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Institution: | a Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Alfred Denny Building, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom b Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland c Systemic Conservation Biology Group, J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Germany |
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Abstract: | Revealing the processes that determine who eats whom, and thereby the structure of food webs, is a long running challenge in ecological research. Recent advances include development of new methods for measuring fit of models to observed food web data, and thereby testing which are the ‘best’ food web models. The best model could be considered the most efficient with relatively few parameters and high explanatory power. Another recent advance involves adding some additional biology to food web models in the form of foraging theory based on maximisation of energy intake as the predictor of species' diets in food webs. While it is interesting to compare efficiency among food web models, we believe that such comparisons at least should be interpreted with caution, since they do not account for any differences in motivation, formulation, and potential that might also exist among models. Furthermore, we see an important but somewhat neglected role for experimental tests of models of food web structure. |
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Keywords: | Foraging Energetics Static food web model Network Connectance |
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