@article{morlon_effects_2014,
Author = {Morlon, Hélène and Kefi, Sonia and Martinez, Neo D.},
Title = {Effects of trophic similarity on community composition},
Journal = {Ecology Letters},
Volume = {17},
Number = {12},
Pages = {1495--1506},
abstract = {Understanding how ecological processes determine
patterns among species coexisting within ecosystems is
central to ecology. Here, we explore relationships
between species' local coexistence and their trophic
niches in terms of their feeding relationships both as
consumers and as resources. We build on recent concepts
and methods from community phylogenetics to develop a
framework for analysing mechanisms responsible for
community composition using trophic similarity among
species and null models of community assembly. We apply
this framework to 50 food webs found in 50 Adirondack
lakes and find that species composition in these
communities appears to be driven by both bottom-up
effects by which the presence of prey species selects
for predators of those prey, and top-down effects by
which prey more tolerant of predation out-compete less
tolerant prey of the same predators. This approach to
community food webs is broadly applicable and shows how
species interaction networks can inform an increasingly
large array of theory central to community ecology.},
doi = {10.1111/ele.12356},
issn = {1461-0248},
language = {eng},
month = dec,
pmid = {25292331},
year = 2014
}