Prey body mass and richness underlie the persistence of a top predator.

ABSTRACT: Predators and prey often differ in body mass. The ratio of predator to prey body mass influences the predator's functional response (how consumption varies with prey density), and therefore, the strength and stability of the predator-prey interaction. The persistence of food chains is maximized when prey species are neither too big nor too small relative to their predator. Nonetheless, we do not know if (i) food web persistence requires that all predator-prey body mass ratios are intermediate, nor (ii) if this constraint depends on prey diversity. We experimentally quantified the functional response for a single predator consuming prey species of different body masses. We used the resultant allometric functional response to parametrize a food web model. We found that predator persistence w

SUBMITTER: Guzman LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6532508 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature