Linked Life Data

10194930

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/10194930

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1-2
pubmed:dateCreated
1999-5-4
pubmed:abstractText
We study the invasion of a top predator into a food chain in a chemostat. For each trophic level, a bioenergetic model is used in which maintenance and energy reserves are taken into account. Bifurcation analysis is performed on the set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations which describe the dynamic behaviour of the food chain. In this paper, we analyse how the ability of a top predator to invade the food chain depends on the values of two control parameters: the dilution rate and the concentration of the substrate in the input. We investigate invasion by studying the long-term behaviour after introduction of a small amount of top predator. To that end we look at the stability of the boundary attractors; equilibria, limit cycles as well as chaotic attractors using bifurcation analysis. It will be shown that the invasibility criterion is the positiveness of the Lyapunov exponent associated with the change of the biomass of the top predator. It appears that the region in the control parameter space where a predator can invade increases with its growth rate. The resulting system becomes more resistant to further invasion when the top predator grows faster. This implies that short food chains with moderate growth rate of the top predator are liable to be invaded by fast growing invaders which consume the top predator. There may be, however, biological constraints on the top predator's growth rate. Predators are generally larger than prey while larger organisms commonly grow slower. As a result, the growth rate generally decreases with the trophic level. This may enable short food chains to be resistant to invaders. We will relate these results to ecological community assembly and the debate on the length of food chains in nature.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0025-5564
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
157
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
217-36
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-11-11
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1999
pubmed:articleTitle
Resistance of a food chain to invasion by a top predator.
pubmed:affiliation
Faculty of Biology, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. kooi@bio.vu.nl
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't