Regime shifts between alternative stable ecosystem states are becoming commonplace due to the combined effects of local stressors and global climate change. Alternative states are characterized as substantially different in form and function from pre-disturbance states, disrupting the delivery of ecosystem services and functions. On coral reefs, regime shifts are typically characterized by a ch...

Eutrophication phenomenon is one of the most common water quality problems in reservoirs in many regions. Determining the trophic status of the reservoirs is not a precise process and contains vagueness. Fuzzy set and entropy theories are concepts which can model uncertainty and imprecision in the data and the analysis. In this study, an Entropy-based Fuzzy Eutrophication Index model has been d...

Recent community genetics studies have shown that specific genotypes of a host plant support distinct arthropod communities. Building upon these findings, we examined the hypothesis that a trophic community consisting of cottonwood trees, a galling herbivore and avian predators could also be related to the genetics of the host tree. We found genetic correlations among phytochemistry of individu...

Weak trophic interactions have been shown to promote the stability of ecological food webs characterized by perfect mixing. However, their importance at the landscape level and response to enrichment has not been extensively examined. In this paper we examine the food-web model explored by McCann et al. [1998. Weak trophic interactions and the balance of nature. Nature 395, 794-798]. The model ...

An ecosystem model was created for the Hudson Bay region, Canada, for 1970–2009, aiming to identify ecosystem linkages while bringing together research from diverse sources. The model presented here in detail includes 40 functional groups. Using the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) modelling framework we are able to provide estimates for previously unknown parameters such as the biomass of fish specie...

Multitrophic communities that maintain the functionality of the extreme Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, while the simplest of any natural community, are still challenging our knowledge about the limits to life on earth. In this study, we describe and interpret the linkage between the diversity of different trophic level communities to the geological morphology and soil geochemistry in the rem...

23 24 Understanding how marine ecosystems are structured and how they function is a 25 scientific challenge. Nowadays, to learn about ecosystem trophic dynamics ecologists use 26 two complementary methodological approximations, mass-balance ecosystem models and 27 isotopic tools. However, despite the wide applications of these methodologies, the 28 comparison and combination of both are still s...

The provisioning of sustaining goods and services that we obtain from natural ecosystems is a strong economic justification for the conservation of biological diversity. Understanding the relationship between these goods and services and changes in the size, arrangement, and quality of natural habitats is a fundamental challenge of natural resource management. In this paper, we describe a new a...

Ecological information regarding trophic patterns and the inherent structure of freshwater aquatic communities is considered fundamental in ecological research. In this study, Greek fish fauna, belonging to Balkan biodiversity hotspot, were investigated, comparisons species feeding habits among ecoregions performed. The analyses based on widely used level index available composition datasets, a...