Timescale Hierarchy Determines the Indirect Effects of Fluctuating Subsidy Inputs on In Situ Resources

Empirical studies have shown that temporally fluctuating inputs of resource subsidies can indirectly increase or decrease the abundance of in situ resources by affecting generalist consumers that feed on both subsidies and in situ resources. By mathematical modeling, we develop a theoretical framewo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2009-02, Vol.173 (2), p.200-211
Main Authors: Takimoto, Gaku, Iwata, Tomoya, Murakami, Masashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggregation
Agricultural resources
Agricultural subsidies
Animal and plant ecology
Animal behavior
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Computer Simulation
Ecological balance
Food Chain
Food chains
Functional responses
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geese
General aspects
Mathematical models
Modeling
Models, Biological
Natural resources
Ratios
Studies
Subsidies
Time Factors
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Summary:Empirical studies have shown that temporally fluctuating inputs of resource subsidies can indirectly increase or decrease the abundance of in situ resources by affecting generalist consumers that feed on both subsidies and in situ resources. By mathematical modeling, we develop a theoretical framework that can explain these variable consumer‐mediated indirect effects. We show that the hierarchy of timescales among fluctuations in the subsidy input rate and consumers’ reproductive and aggregative numerical responses predict the signs of the indirect effects. These predictions are consistent with field observations from a variety of natural systems. Our results suggest that the timescale hierarchy of ecological processes is fundamentally important for understanding and predicting indirect effects in nonequilibrium food web dynamics.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/595759