The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Press perturbations and indirect effects in real food webs
Abstract
The prediction of the effects of disturbances in natural systems is limited by the general lack of knowledge on the strength of species interactions, i.e., the effect of one species on the population growth rate of another, and by the uncertainty of the effects that may be manifested via indirect pathways within the food web. Here we explored the consequences of changes in species populations for the remaining species within nine exceptionally well-characterized empirical food webs, for which, unlike the vast majority of other published webs, feeding links have been fully quantified. Using the inverse of the Jacobian matrix, we found that perturbations to species with few connections have larger net effects (considering both direct and indirect pathways between two species) on the rest of the food web than do disturbances to species that are highly connected. For 40% of predator-prey links, predators had positive net effects on prey populations, due to the predominance of indirect interactions. Our results highlight the fundamental, but often counterintuitive, role of indirect effects for the maintenance of food web complexity and biodiversity.
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“Few studies have attempted to parameterise complex real-world terrestrial food webs with sufficient resolution to assess both stability and the predictability of indirect effects (Montoya et al. 2009).”
From A Food Web Model of the Serengeti: Stability, Dynamics and Indirect Effects (2026) · cites this paper as Montoya et al. 2009
In the citing paper
“A study of nine empirical food webs by (Montoya et al. 2009) found an average of 40% of consumer-resource links in those ecosystems to feature a positive net effect of consumers on their resource species.”
From A Food Web Model of the Serengeti: Stability, Dynamics and Indirect Effects (2026) · cites this paper as Montoya et al. 2009
Citations
Cites
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Ecological networks and their fragility
Montoya, J., Pimm, S., & Solé, R. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04927 · Cited by 1,390
Self-citationBody size in ecological networks
WOODWARD, G., EBENMAN, B., EMMERSON, M., MONTOYA, J., OLESEN, J., VALIDO, A., & WARREN, P. (2005) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.04.005 · Cited by 1,251
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Review: Ecological networks – beyond food webs
Ings, T. C., Montoya, J. M., Bascompte, J., Blüthgen, N., Brown, L., Dormann, C. F., Edwards, F., Figueroa, D., Jacob, U., Jones, J. I., et al. (2009) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01460.x · Cited by 934
Self-citationBeyond pairwise mechanisms of species coexistence in complex communities
Levine, J. M., Bascompte, J., Adler, P. B., & Allesina, S. (2017) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature22898 · Cited by 737
Impacts of Fishing Low–Trophic Level Species on Marine Ecosystems
Smith, A. D. M., Brown, C. J., Bulman, C., Fulton, E. A., Johnson, P., Kaplan, I. C., Lozano‐Montes, H., Mackinson, S., Marzloff, M. P., Shannon, L. J., et al. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1209395 · Cited by 589
Kissling, W. D., Dormann, C. F., Groeneveld, J., Hickler, T., Kühn, I., McInerny, G., Montoya, J. M., Römermann, C., Schiffers, K. H., Schurr, F. M., et al. (2011) · Journal of Biogeography · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02663.x · Cited by 436
Self-citationHigh frequency of functional extinctions in ecological networks
Säterberg, T., Sellman, S., & Ebenman, B. (2013) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature12277 · Cited by 226
Metadata
- Authors
- Montoya, J., Woodward, G., Emmerson, M. C., & Solé, R. V.
- Affiliations
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- University College Cork (IE)
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Venue
- Ecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-09
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2426-2433
- ISSN
- 0012-9658 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-9170
- OpenAlex
- W2080748515
- Cited by
- 205
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 11.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ecology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Applied Mathematics › 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
- food webs, indirect interactions, species interactions, Jacobian matrix, perturbation analysis, predator-prey interactions, network connectivity, biodiversity maintenance, food web complexity
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Biological, Animals, Fishes, Invertebrates, Membrane Proteins, Population Density, Population Dynamics, Biomass, Food Chain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins, Rivers
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