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MBIO 3500: Food Web Dynamics
Food Web Dynamics
MBIO 3500
Winter 2021
A food chain is simply "who eats what". A food web weaves together many food chains to form a complicated network of feeding relationships. Many animals eat more than one thing, and each link in each chain is important and integral to the entire system. The interactions in a food web are far more complex than the interactions in a food chain. The most complex food webs follow certain patterns and that those patterns are shaped by a limited number of biological processes, such as population dynamics and energy flow. This course is designed to study the basic components and processes of trophic dynamics, how these comprise different terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and how these systems can be altered and influenced.
Recommended Textbooks:
Students are NOT required to purchase these books but may elect to borrow them from the library or through interlibrary loan. Readings will be provided from the following books:
Food Webs at the Landscape Level by
Scientists rely on food webs?complex networks that trace the flow of nutrients and energy between species and through ecosystems?to understand the infrastructure of ecological communities. But given the complexities of food webs?think of following the flow of nutrients through the microbes, fungi, roots, worms, ants, and birds that pass over or through a single cubic meter of prairie soil?it's not difficult to see why most experiments on food-web dynamics focus on small, local habitats. Yet as this book convincingly shows, important insights come when scientists expand the temporal and spatial scope of their research to look at the ways energy, organisms, nutrients, and pollutants flow not just at the local level, but across whole landscapes?between and among food webs in a wide variety of habitats. Paying special attention to the fertile boundaries between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, Food Webs at the Landscape Level not only shows what this new methodology means for ecology, conservation, and agriculture but also serves as a fitting tribute to Gary Polis and his major contributions to the field.
Call Number: QH541 .F65 2004ISBN: 0226673251Publication Date: 2004-02-22
Dynamic Food Webs by
Dynamic Food Webs challenges us to rethink what factors may determine ecological and evolutionary pathways of food web development. It touches upon the intriguing idea that trophic interactions drive patterns and dynamics at different levels of biological organization: dynamics in species composition, dynamics in population life-history parameters and abundances, and dynamics in individual growth, size and behavior. These dynamics are shown to be strongly interrelated governing food web structure and stability and the role of populations and communities play in ecosystem functioning. Dynamic Food Webs not only offers over 100 illustrations, but also contains 8 riveting sections devoted to an understanding of how to manage the effects of environmental change, the protection of biological diversity and the sustainable use of natural resources. Dynamic Food Webs is a volume in the Theoretical Ecology series.
Call Number: E-BOOKISBN: 0120884585Publication Date: 2005-12-20
Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems by
Recent scientific literature has raised many concerns about whether fisheries have caused more extensive changes to marine populations and ecosystems than previously realized or predicted. In many cases, stocks have been exploited far beyond management targets, and new analyses indicate that fishing has harmed other species—including marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and sea grasses—either directly through catch or habitat damage, or indirectly through changes in food-web interactions. At the request of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Research Council conducted an independent study to weigh the collective evidence for fishery-induced changes to marine ecosystems and the implications of the findings for U.S. fisheries management. Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems provides comprehensive information in regard to these findings.
Call Number: E-BOOKISBN: 030910050XPublication Date: 2006-07-26
Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems by
Recent scientific literature has raised many concerns about whether fisheries have caused more extensive changes to marine populations and ecosystems than previously realized or predicted. In many cases, stocks have been exploited far beyond management targets, and new analyses indicate that fishing has harmed other species—including marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and sea grasses—either directly through catch or habitat damage, or indirectly through changes in food-web interactions. At the request of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Research Council conducted an independent study to weigh the collective evidence for fishery-induced changes to marine ecosystems and the implications of the findings for U.S. fisheries management. Dynamic Changes in Marine Ecosystems provides comprehensive information in regard to these findings.
Call Number: QH545.F53 D96 2006ISBN: 9780309100502Publication Date: 2006-07-26
The Carnivore Way by
In The Carnivore Way, Cristina Eisenberg combinescompelling field narratives and fascinating science to explore theimportance and challenges of habitat connectivity. Eisenberg followsthe footsteps of six large carnivores - wolves, grizzly bears,lynx, jaguars, wolverines, and cougars - on a 5,000-mile wildlifecorridor from Alaska to Mexico along the Rocky Mountains, showing howtheir well-being is a critical factor in sustaining healthy landscapes.In this timely and inspiring book, Eisenberg shows that creating andmaintaining connected, landscape-scale permeable corridors for largecarnivores can provide an essential and effective tool for coping withglobal change - and preserving biodiversity as we move furtherinto the twenty-first century.
Call Number: QL737.C2 E38 2014ISBN: 9781597269827Publication Date: 2014-05-01
Learning Outcomes:
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Summarize the basic theory of ecological food webs.
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Be able to explain food web structure and population dynamics.
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Describe trophic relationships and trophic efficiency.
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Describe the trophodynamics differences within and between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
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Be able to identify natural and anthropogenic perturbations to food webs.
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Describe how environmental changes and anthropogenic perturbations influence food webs.
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Evaluate how food webs dynamics impact ecosystem management.
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