Food Web Patterns and Their Consequences

Food Web Patterns and Their Consequences

Pimm, Stuart L., John H. Lawton, and Joel E. Cohen
Nature 350, no. 6320 (1991): 669-674
https://doi.org/10.1038/350669a0

“Food webs are the road-maps through Darwin’s famous ‘entangled bank’ and have a long history in ecology. Like maps of unfamiliar ground, food webs appear bewilderingly complex. They were often published to make just that point. Yet recent studies have shown that food webs from a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine communities share a remarkable list of patterns. Current research concentrates on how many independent patterns there are, how they may be described quantitatively, why the patterns are so general, and what are the consequences of these patterns for the dynamics of a community and its constituent species. Just as any map omits details, most published webs omit predation on minor species, the quantities of food consumed, the chemical composition and temporal variation of the flows, and many other details. Published webs are also of very variable quality. These omissions and problems are caues of concern, but on present evidence do not present insurmountable difficulties. ”

— Pimm et al.