Cyclic energy pathways in ecological food webs

Abstract

Standard ecology textbooks typically maintain that nutrients cycle, but energy flows in unidirectional chains. However, here we use a new metric that allows for the identification and quantification of cyclic energy pathways. Some of these important pathways occur due to the contribution of dead organic matter to detrital pools and those organisms that feed on them, reintroducing some of that energy back into the food web. Recognition of these cyclic energy pathways profoundly impacts many aspects of ecology such as trophic levels, control, and the importance of indirect effects. Network analysis, specifically the maximum eigenvalue of the connectance matrix, is used to identify both the presence and strength of these structural cycles. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Keywords

Cycling; Detritus; Energy Flow; Food Webs; Network Analysis; Trophid Dynamics

Published in

Ecological Modelling
2007, Volume: 208, number: 1, pages: 17-24 Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Halnes, Geir

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.04.020

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/17091