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A general theory of environmental noise in ecological food webs.

Ripa, Jörgen LU orcid ; Lundberg, Per LU and Kaitala, V (1998) In American Naturalist 151(3). p.256-263
Abstract
ABSTRACT We examine the effects of environmental noise on populations that are parts of simple two-species food webs. We assume that the species are strongly interacting and that one or the other population is affected by the noise signal. Further assuming that a stable equilibrium with positive population densities exists, we are able to perform a complete frequency analysis of the system. If only one of the populations is subject to noise, the relative noise response by both populations is fully determined by the sign of a single element of the Jacobian matrix. The analysis is readily extended to cases when both species are affected by noise or when the food web has more than two species. The general conclusion about relative responses... (More)
ABSTRACT We examine the effects of environmental noise on populations that are parts of simple two-species food webs. We assume that the species are strongly interacting and that one or the other population is affected by the noise signal. Further assuming that a stable equilibrium with positive population densities exists, we are able to perform a complete frequency analysis of the system. If only one of the populations is subject to noise, the relative noise response by both populations is fully determined by the sign of a single element of the Jacobian matrix. The analysis is readily extended to cases when both species are affected by noise or when the food web has more than two species. The general conclusion about relative responses to noise is then less unambiguous, but the power spectra describing the frequency composition of the population variabilities are nevertheless completely determined. These results are entirely independent on the exact nature of the interaction (i.e., predation, competition, mutualism) between the populations. The results show that the interpretation of the "color" of ecological time series (i.e., the frequency composition of population variability over time) may be complicated by species interactions. The propagation of noise signals through food webs and the importance of web structure for the expected response of all parts of the web to such signals is a challenging field for future studies. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
population dynamics, power spectra, environmental stochasticity, food webs
in
American Naturalist
volume
151
issue
3
pages
256 - 263
publisher
University of Chicago Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:0031956624
ISSN
0003-0147
DOI
10.1086/286116
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a253e957-9cf4-4e93-9071-11b125e9397b (old id 1242711)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:23:50
date last changed
2022-04-21 06:54:15
@article{a253e957-9cf4-4e93-9071-11b125e9397b,
  abstract     = {{ABSTRACT We examine the effects of environmental noise on populations that are parts of simple two-species food webs. We assume that the species are strongly interacting and that one or the other population is affected by the noise signal. Further assuming that a stable equilibrium with positive population densities exists, we are able to perform a complete frequency analysis of the system. If only one of the populations is subject to noise, the relative noise response by both populations is fully determined by the sign of a single element of the Jacobian matrix. The analysis is readily extended to cases when both species are affected by noise or when the food web has more than two species. The general conclusion about relative responses to noise is then less unambiguous, but the power spectra describing the frequency composition of the population variabilities are nevertheless completely determined. These results are entirely independent on the exact nature of the interaction (i.e., predation, competition, mutualism) between the populations. The results show that the interpretation of the "color" of ecological time series (i.e., the frequency composition of population variability over time) may be complicated by species interactions. The propagation of noise signals through food webs and the importance of web structure for the expected response of all parts of the web to such signals is a challenging field for future studies.}},
  author       = {{Ripa, Jörgen and Lundberg, Per and Kaitala, V}},
  issn         = {{0003-0147}},
  keywords     = {{population dynamics; power spectra; environmental stochasticity; food webs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{256--263}},
  publisher    = {{University of Chicago Press}},
  series       = {{American Naturalist}},
  title        = {{A general theory of environmental noise in ecological food webs.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/286116}},
  doi          = {{10.1086/286116}},
  volume       = {{151}},
  year         = {{1998}},
}