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In-Depth Information
size and taxonomy functions as predictors of ecosystem structure, our un-
derstanding of ecological processes will improve.
F. Concluding Remarks
The novel approaches developed here have allowed us to explore the role of
both size and taxonomy simultaneously and to investigate the consequences
of aggregating data (species averaging). The new insights gleaned from this
are predicated upon using an individual-based approach, which has to date
been largely ignored in food web ecology. This may seem strange with the
benefit of hindsight, as interactions ultimately occur between individuals, but
it is only in recent years that even species-averaged body size has started to be
recorded routinely in food web studies: after all, the first paper to document
the numerical abundance and body mass of species as well as their trophic
interactions was published less than a decade ago (
Cohen et al., 2003
).
Adding the additional layer of individual-level data now provides a means
for us to move beyond such trivariate approaches into a truly multivariate
view of ecological networks, and it must be a priority to collect more
empirical data to test the generality of the patterns reported here. Returning
to first principles may therefore offer a way to shed light on some of the
oldest, yet still unanswered, questions in ecology, such as the relationship
between the complexity and stability of ecological systems. It can also open
up new vistas we have not yet even begun to explore. As Goethe stated
presciently many years before Darwin coined his now familiar analogy of
the entangled bank—''Everything is both simpler than we can imagine and
more entangled than we can conceive.''
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the numerous people who provided assistance in
the field and laboratory, Torbj¨ rn S¨terberg for valuable advice on the
statistical analysis, and the referees whose comments improved an earlier
version of the manuscript. This project was supported by a Faculty grant
from Link¨ping University awarded to B. E., two Natural Environment
Research Council (NERC) grants awarded to J. I. and G. W. (NE/
C511905/1 and NE/E012175/2), a NERC grant awarded to G. W., O. P.
and Dan Reuman (NE/I009280/1), a NERC Centre for Population Biology
grant awarded to G. W. and two ESF-funded SIZEMIC Working Groups
led by O. P., Julia Reiss, and Ute Jacob.
