Natural and Null Food Webs: A Critical Investigation of Biological and Methodological Explanations for Food Web Structure

9905446 Martinez食物网理论正在经历一个范例的转变，从食物网中的尺度不变模式到恒定的连接性和尺度依赖的模式。这项博士后启蒙资助将通过严格和系统地将经验观察到的食物网模式与无效和机械模型产生的模式进行比较，澄清目前尚未确定的这种转变的生物学意义。正如生态学丰富的历史所表明的那样，这种比较对于评估这样一种说法至关重要，即稳健的食物网模式表明了制约生态系统结构和功能的强大生物过程。由于缺乏比较，食物网图案是方法论人工制品的假设需要在对这些图案的生物学基础进行大量研究之前进行系统研究。以前比较天然和零食物网的相对较少的工作表明，生物过程是导致广泛的陆地、水生和海洋生态系统中连接值相对较低的原因。为了描绘这种和其他食物网模式的过程，候选的生物机制将被形式化成构建食物网的计算机模型。以这种方式构建的网将与经验观察到的食物网进行比较。这种比较将表明模拟的机制是否值得进一步的分析和实验研究，作为食物网模式的潜在来源。

9905446MartinezFood-web theory is undergoing a paradigmatic shift from scale-invariant patterns in food webs to constant connectance and scale-dependent patterns. This postdoctoral starter grant will clarify the currently undetermined biological significance of the shift by rigorously and systematically comparing empirically observed food web patterns with patterns generated by null and mechanistic models. As a rich history in ecology has shown, such comparisons are critical to evaluating the claim that robust food web patterns are indicative of powerful biological processes that constrain the structure and function of ecological systems. Lacking the comparisons, the hypothesis that food web patterns are methodological artifacts needs to be systematically studied before much work on the biological basis for the patterns is warranted. The relatively small amount of previous work comparing natural and null food webs suggests that biological processes are responsible for the relatively low value of connectance in a wide range of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecological systems. In an attempt to delineate the processes responsible for this and other food web patterns, candidate biological mechanisms will be formalized into computer models that construct food webs. Webs constructed in this manner will be compared against empirically observed food webs. This comparison will indicate whether the simulated mechanisms deserve further analytical and experimental investigation as potential sources of food web patterns.