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Food Web Structure and Long‐Term Phosphorus Recycling: A Simulation Model Evaluation
Author(s) -
He Xi,
Kitchell James F.,
Carpenter Stephen R.,
Hodgson James R.,
Schindler Daniel E.,
Cottingham Kathryn L.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1993)122<0773:fwsalt>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - planktivore , piscivore , food web , bioenergetics , biology , ecology , biomass (ecology) , functional response , pelagic zone , phosphorus , predation , predator , environmental science , nutrient , phytoplankton , chemistry , organic chemistry , mitochondrion , microbiology and biotechnology
We used models to examine the effects of different food web structures on the longterm dynamics of phosphorus recycling in lakes. We also assessed food web responses to periodic fish recruitment. These responses were compared for models with and without a typical invertebrate planktivore represented by Chaoborus . Nutrient flux was estimated based on bioenergetics models offish growth. Predator–prey interactions were developed as type II functional responses whereby feeding rate per predator increases with prey density up to some intrinsic limit on consumption. The model with Chaoborus produced higher biomass of both piscivorous and planktivorous fish and higher phosphorus recycling rates than the model without Chaoborus . When periodic piscivore recruitment was introduced into the model without Chaoborus , all nonpiscivore components in the model showed the same periodicity as the piscivore recruitment. With Chaoborus , the responses were more complex and generally less sensitive to piscivore recruitment. This study suggests that increased food web complexity, as represented by addition of an invertebrate planktivore, can lead to increased fish biomass due to increased nutrient recycling rates.