TY - JOUR
T1 - Inferring predator-prey interactions in food webs
AU - Pomeranz, Justin P. F.
AU - Thompson, Ross M.
AU - Poisot, Timothee
AU - Harding, Jon S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank C Perovich for help with data analysis and thoughtful discussion, and P Jellyman and K Hogsden for helpful comments on an early draft. J.P.F.P. and J.S.H. were funded by a Foundation for Research, Science and Technology grant (FRST CRLX0401) and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Grant CRLE1403. J.P.F.P. was funded by a University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship. R.M.T. was funded by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100957).
Funding Information:
FRST CRLX0401; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Grant/ Award Number: CRLE1403; University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship; Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, Grant/ Award Number: FT110100957
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2018 British Ecological Society
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Food webs are a powerful way to represent the diversity, structure, and function of ecological systems. However, the accurate description of food webs requires significant effort in time and resources, limiting their widespread use in ecological studies. Newly published methods allow for the inference of feeding interactions using proxy variables. Here, we compare the accuracy of two recently described methods, as well as describe a composite model of the two, for the inference of feeding interactions using a large, well-described dataset. Both niche and neutral processes are involved in determining whether or not two species will form a feeding link in communities. Three different models for determining niche constraints of feeding interactions are compared, and all three models are extended by incorporating neutral processes, based on relative abundances. The three models compared here infer niche processes through (a) phylogenetic relationships, (b) local species trait distributions (e.g., body size), and (c) a composite of phylogeny and local traits. We show that all three methods perform well at predicting individual species interactions, and that these individual predictions scale up to the network level, resulting in food web structure of inferred networks being similar to their empirical counterparts. Our results indicate that inferring food web structure using phylogenies can be an efficient way of getting summary webs with minimal data, and offers a conservative test of changes in food web structure, particularly when there is low species turnover between sites. Inferences made using traits require more data, but allows for greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying trophic interactions. A composite model of the two methods provides a framework for investigating the importance of how phylogeny, trait distributions, and relative abundances, affect species interactions, and network structure.
AB - Food webs are a powerful way to represent the diversity, structure, and function of ecological systems. However, the accurate description of food webs requires significant effort in time and resources, limiting their widespread use in ecological studies. Newly published methods allow for the inference of feeding interactions using proxy variables. Here, we compare the accuracy of two recently described methods, as well as describe a composite model of the two, for the inference of feeding interactions using a large, well-described dataset. Both niche and neutral processes are involved in determining whether or not two species will form a feeding link in communities. Three different models for determining niche constraints of feeding interactions are compared, and all three models are extended by incorporating neutral processes, based on relative abundances. The three models compared here infer niche processes through (a) phylogenetic relationships, (b) local species trait distributions (e.g., body size), and (c) a composite of phylogeny and local traits. We show that all three methods perform well at predicting individual species interactions, and that these individual predictions scale up to the network level, resulting in food web structure of inferred networks being similar to their empirical counterparts. Our results indicate that inferring food web structure using phylogenies can be an efficient way of getting summary webs with minimal data, and offers a conservative test of changes in food web structure, particularly when there is low species turnover between sites. Inferences made using traits require more data, but allows for greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying trophic interactions. A composite model of the two methods provides a framework for investigating the importance of how phylogeny, trait distributions, and relative abundances, affect species interactions, and network structure.
KW - body size
KW - food web inference
KW - food web structure
KW - neutral theory
KW - niche model
KW - trait-matching
KW - WebBuilder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058237690&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/inferring-predatorprey-interactions-food-webs
U2 - 10.1111/2041-210X.13125
DO - 10.1111/2041-210X.13125
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-210X
VL - 10
SP - 356
EP - 367
JO - Methods in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Methods in Ecology and Evolution
IS - 3
ER -