Trophic positioning of meiofauna revealed by stable isotopes and food web analyses

Trophic positioning of meiofauna revealed by stable isotopes and food web analyses.

Despite important advances in the ecology of river food webs, the strength and nature of the connection between the meio- and macrofaunal components of the web are still debated. Some unresolved issues are the effects of the inclusion of meiofaunal links and their temporal variations on the overall river food web properties, and the significance of autochthonous and allochthonous material for t...

Trophic Niche Differentiation in Rodents and Marsupials Revealed by Stable Isotopes.

Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of small mammals in the world, yet we have little understanding about the mechanisms that promote the coexistence of species. Diet partitioning can favor coexistence by lessening competition, and interspecific differences in body size and habitat use are usually proposed to be associated with trophic divergence. However, the use of classic die...

Changes in the Lake Michigan Trophic Structure: As Revealed by Stable C and N Isotopes

Trophic Structure in a Seabird Host-Parasite Food Web: Insights from Stable Isotope Analyses

Ecological studies on food webs rarely include parasites, partly due to the complexity and dimensionality of host-parasite interaction networks. Multiple co-occurring parasites can show different feeding strategies and thus lead to complex and cryptic trophic relationships, which are often difficult to disentangle by traditional methods. We analyzed stable isotope ratios of C ((13)C/(12)C, delt...

Variable and complex food web structures revealed by exploring missing trophic links between birds and biofilm.

Food webs are comprised of a network of trophic interactions and are essential to elucidating ecosystem processes and functions. However, the presence of unknown, but critical networks hampers understanding of complex and dynamic food webs in nature. Here, we empirically demonstrate a missing link, both critical and variable, by revealing that direct predator-prey relationships between shorebir...