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Parasites Affect Food Web Structure Primarily through Increased Diversity and Complexity
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نویسنده
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dunne j.a. ,lafferty k.d. ,dobson a.p. ,hechinger r.f. ,kuris a.m. ,martinez n.d. ,mclaughlin j.p. ,mouritsen k.n. ,poulin r. ,reise k. ,stouffer d.b. ,thieltges d.w. ,williams r.j. ,zander c.d.
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منبع
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plos biology - 2013 - دوره : 11 - شماره : 6
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چکیده
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Comparative research on food web structure has revealed generalities in trophic organization,produced simple models,and allowed assessment of robustness to species loss. these studies have mostly focused on free-living species. recent research has suggested that inclusion of parasites alters structure. we assess whether such changes in network structure result from unique roles and traits of parasites or from changes to diversity and complexity. we analyzed seven highly resolved food webs that include metazoan parasite data. our analyses show that adding parasites usually increases link density and connectance (simple measures of complexity),particularly when including concomitant links (links from predators to parasites of their prey). however,we clarify prior claims that parasites dominate food web links. although parasites can be involved in a majority of links,in most cases classic predation links outnumber classic parasitism links. regarding network structure,observed changes in degree distributions,14 commonly studied metrics,and link probabilities are consistent with scale-dependent changes in structure associated with changes in diversity and complexity. parasite and free-living species thus have similar effects on these aspects of structure. however,two changes point to unique roles of parasites. first,adding parasites and concomitant links strongly alters the frequency of most motifs of interactions among three taxa,reflecting parasites' roles as resources for predators of their hosts,driven by trophic intimacy with their hosts. second,compared to free-living consumers,many parasites' feeding niches appear broader and less contiguous,which may reflect complex life cycles and small body sizes. this study provides new insights about generic versus unique impacts of parasites on food web structure,extends the generality of food web theory,gives a more rigorous framework for assessing the impact of any species on trophic organization,identifies limitations of current food web models,and provides direction for future structural and dynamical models.
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آدرس
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santa fe institute,santa fe,nm,united states,pacific ecoinformatics and computational ecology lab,berkeley,ca, United States, western ecological research center,united states geological survey,c/o marine science institute,university of california,santa barbara,ca, United States, ecology and evolutionary biology,princeton university,princeton,nj, United States, ecology,evolution and marine biology,university of california,santa barbara,ca, United States, ecology,evolution and marine biology,university of california,santa barbara,ca, United States, pacific ecoinformatics and computational ecology lab,berkeley,ca, United States, ecology,evolution and marine biology,university of california,santa barbara,ca, United States, department of biological sciences,aarhus university,aarhus, Denmark, department of zoology,university of otago,dunedin, New Zealand, alfred wegener institute for polar and marine research,list, Germany, integrative ecology group,estación biológica de doñana,sevilla,spain,school of biological sciences,university of canterbury,christchurch, New Zealand, royal netherlands institute for sea research,den burg, Netherlands, microsoft research,cambridge,united kingdom,quid,san francisco,ca, United States, biozentrum grindel und zoologisches museum,universität hamburg,hamburg, Germany
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Authors
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