New research proposes a model to explain how simple food webs are formed within a community. A food web links each species with its predators and prey, but it’s not clear how any particular association emerges from a wide range of possible webs. In the present study, researchers describe a principle of mutual replenishment, which […]
Tag: population dynamics
Porcupine study reveals how populations change with predation and foraging 
Investigation of predator-prey relationships in a changing environment is an important way to track changes to local ecosystems. A new investigation takes a look at the effects of both top-down (predation-driven) and bottom-up (food and foraging-dependent) systems in predator-prey dynamics. The research team tracked a population of porcupines in Wisconsin, US, over a period of 14-year […]
