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The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites

Although parasites represent an important component of ecosystems, few field and theoretical studies have addressed the structure of parasites in food webs. We evaluate the structure of parasitic links in an extensive salt marsh food web, with a new model distinguishing parasitic links from non-para...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Warren, Christopher P., Pascual, Mercedes, Lafferty, Kevin D., Kuris, Armand M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25540673
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12080-009-0069-x
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author Warren, Christopher P.
Pascual, Mercedes
Lafferty, Kevin D.
Kuris, Armand M.
author_facet Warren, Christopher P.
Pascual, Mercedes
Lafferty, Kevin D.
Kuris, Armand M.
author_sort Warren, Christopher P.
collection PubMed
description Although parasites represent an important component of ecosystems, few field and theoretical studies have addressed the structure of parasites in food webs. We evaluate the structure of parasitic links in an extensive salt marsh food web, with a new model distinguishing parasitic links from non-parasitic links among free-living species. The proposed model is an extension of the niche model for food web structure, motivated by the potential role of size (and related metabolic rates) in structuring food webs. The proposed extension captures several properties observed in the data, including patterns of clustering and nestedness, better than does a random model. By relaxing specific assumptions, we demonstrate that two essential elements of the proposed model are the similarity of a parasite’s hosts and the increasing degree of parasite specialization, along a one-dimensional niche axis. Thus, inverting one of the basic rules of the original model, the one determining consumers’ generality appears critical. Our results support the role of size as one of the organizing principles underlying niche space and food web topology. They also strengthen the evidence for the non-random structure of parasitic links in food webs and open the door to addressing questions concerning the consequences and origins of this structure. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12080-009-0069-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-42704332014-12-22 The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites Warren, Christopher P. Pascual, Mercedes Lafferty, Kevin D. Kuris, Armand M. Theor Ecol Original Paper Although parasites represent an important component of ecosystems, few field and theoretical studies have addressed the structure of parasites in food webs. We evaluate the structure of parasitic links in an extensive salt marsh food web, with a new model distinguishing parasitic links from non-parasitic links among free-living species. The proposed model is an extension of the niche model for food web structure, motivated by the potential role of size (and related metabolic rates) in structuring food webs. The proposed extension captures several properties observed in the data, including patterns of clustering and nestedness, better than does a random model. By relaxing specific assumptions, we demonstrate that two essential elements of the proposed model are the similarity of a parasite’s hosts and the increasing degree of parasite specialization, along a one-dimensional niche axis. Thus, inverting one of the basic rules of the original model, the one determining consumers’ generality appears critical. Our results support the role of size as one of the organizing principles underlying niche space and food web topology. They also strengthen the evidence for the non-random structure of parasitic links in food webs and open the door to addressing questions concerning the consequences and origins of this structure. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12080-009-0069-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer Netherlands 2010-01-27 2010 /pmc/articles/PMC4270433/ /pubmed/25540673 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12080-009-0069-x Text en © The Author(s) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Warren, Christopher P.
Pascual, Mercedes
Lafferty, Kevin D.
Kuris, Armand M.
The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title_full The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title_fullStr The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title_full_unstemmed The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title_short The inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
title_sort inverse niche model for food webs with parasites
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25540673
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12080-009-0069-x
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