Food web structure and the strength of transient indirect effects
Abstract
The relative importance of direct and indirect effects in ecological communities remains unresolved. Indirect effects may diminish as they propagate through highly reticulate food webs. We tested this hypothesis by assembling replicate food webs of different complexity in laboratory microcosms, and comparing the transmission of indirect effects through these webs. By providing the top predator ( Didinium ) with either one ( Paramecium ) or two ( Paramecium and Colpidium ) species of protists as prey, we created linear or reticulate food webs where we could examine the transient response of predators to an indirect effect. Addition of Chlamydomonas , a small alga consumed by Paramecium , but not by Colpidium , perturbed the system and generated an indirect effect on Didinium . We expected the proportional response of Didinium to Chlamydomonas addition would be smaller in the reticulate web containing alternative, unperturbed prey ( Colpidium ). We measured predator response as predator yield, the maximum number of predators produced prior to overexploitation of prey and subsequent predator decline. The ratio of yield in perturbed bottles to yield in unperturbed bottles measures the proportional response of Didinium to Chlamydomonas addition. We expected this ratio to be smaller with Colpidium present. Contrary to expectations, alternative prey enhanced rather than diminished predator response to the perturbation. This resulted from competition between the prey species, a facto…
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Empirical studies of indirect effects have tended to focus on smaller or simplified systems, such as intertidal communities, experimental microcosms, or relatively reduced terrestrial food webs.
“Empirical studies have tended to focus on smaller or simplified systems, such as intertidal communities (Menge 1995;Wootton 2002), experimental microcosms (Fox and Olsen 2000), or relatively reduced terrestrial food webs (Vial et al. 2011), where interactions can be more readily quantified.”
From A Food Web Model of the Serengeti: Stability, Dynamics and Indirect Effects (2026) · cites this paper as Fox and Olsen 2000
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- Authors
- Fox, J. W., & Olsen, E.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- ORCID
- Fox, Jeremy W.
- Venue
- Oikos
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-08
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 219-226
- ISSN
- 0030-1299 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0706
- OpenAlex
- W2098183135
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 1.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oikos (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Keywords
- indirect effects, food web structure, food web complexity, predator response, Paramecium, Chlamydomonas, alternative prey, prey competition, overexploitation, microcosm experiments
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