2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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5/22/2018 | 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM | THEY’RE PROBABLY FEELING INSECURE: INFERRING FOOD WEB STRUCTURE AND STABILITY USING PROBABILISTIC NETWORKS | 420 A

THEY’RE PROBABLY FEELING INSECURE: INFERRING FOOD WEB STRUCTURE AND STABILITY USING PROBABILISTIC NETWORKS

Understanding anthropogenic effects on food webs is a complex and logistically demanding task. Large sample sizes and allocations of effort are required for the accurate description of food webs, limiting their widespread use in ecological studies. However, recently developed methods offer an alternative approach to developing food webs by using proxies. Information on species body size and relative abundances, can be used with allometric scaling equations and simple food web models (such as the niche model), can be combined to infer the structure and strength of feeding interactions within size-structured food webs. We assessed the probability of species encountering one another and the probability of species being able to interact as two independent events based on relative abundance, and predator-prey body size relationships, respectively. We applied these methods to data collected on freshwater communities across a gradient of acid mine drainage (AMD) inputs. Network structure and distribution of interaction strengths were inferred, and were used to assess their robustness and stability. We found consistent, predictable changes in food web connectance and interaction strengths. This information can help inform the management and restoration of streams with a legacy of AMD inputs.

Food Webs
Impairment
Water Quality

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Presenters/Authors

Justin Pomeranz (), University Canterbury, jfpomeranz@gmail.com;