Resolving Ecosystem Complexity

List of Illustrations ix

List of Tables xiii

Preface xv

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Philosophical Musings 2

Explaining Contingency: A Worldview 4

Contingency and Emergence 5

Preparing the Mind for Discovery 7

Structure of the Book 8

Chapter 2: Conceptualizing Ecosystem Structure 10

Abstracting Complexity 11

Whole System vs. Building Blocks Approach 13

Defining Species Interaction Modules 15

Identifying Interaction Modules in a Grassland Ecosystem 16

Conception of Ecosystem Structure 20

Chapter 3: Trophic Dynamics: Why Is the World Green? 23

Trophic Control as an Emergent Property of Resource Limitation 24

Explaining Contingency in Trophic Control of Ecosystem Function 26

The Nature of Resource Limitation and Trophic Control of Food Chains 28

The Mechanism Switching Hypothesis of Trophic Control 32

Effects of Herbivore Feeding Mode 36

Collective Effects of Herbivore Species with Different Feeding Modes 38

Plant- Antiherbivore Defense and Strength of Trophic Control 39

Herbivore Resource Selection and Ecosystem Function 41

Stoichiometry and Herbivore Resource Use 42

Resource Selection and Ecosystem Function 43

Herbivore Indirect Effects and Engineering of Green Worlds 46

Herbivore- Mediated Carnivore Indirect Effects on Ecosystems 47

Carnivore Indirect Effects on Plant Diversity 47

Carnivore Indirect Effects on Ecosystem Function 50

Chapter 4: The Green World and the Brown Chain 55

Conceptualizing Functions along Detritus- Based Chains 56

Resource Limitation and Trophic Control 57

Trophic Control of Decomposition 59

Trophic Control of Mineralization 61

Mechanisms of Top- Down Control 62

Trophic Coupling between Detritus- Based and Plant- Based Chains 64

Chapter 5: The Evolutionary Ecology of Trophic Control in Ecosystems 68

Carnivore Species and the Nature of Trophic Interactions in an Old- Field System 69

Carnivore Hunting Mode and the Nature of Trophic Interactions 74

The Evolutionary Ecology of Trophic Cascades 86

Chapter 6: The Whole and the Parts 99

Developing Predictive Theory for Emergence 100

Contingency and Carnivore Diversity Effects on Ecosystems 101

Carnivore Diversity and Emergent Effects on Ecosystem Function 106

Shifting Down One Trophic Level: Intermediate Species Diversity and Ecosystem Function 110

Herbivore Diversity and Mediation of Top- Down Control of Ecosystem Function 112

Detritivore Diversity and Mediation of Top- Down Control of Ecosystem Function 117

The Basal Trophic Level: Plant Diversity and Ecosystem Function 118

Functional Classifications 119

Resource Identity Effects on Trophic Interactions 121

Moving Forward on Functional Diversity and Ecosystem Function 122

Chapter 7: The Ecological Theater and the Evolutionary Ecological Play 125

Phenotypic Variation and State- Dependent Trade- Offs 127

Attacked Plants Attract Predators 129

Predators That Avoid Predation 130

The Nonconsumptive Basis of Trophic Transfer Efficiencies 132

Trophic Interactions in a Changing Theater 133

Rapid Change in Hunting Strategy 135

Landscapes of Fear and Ecosystem Management 135

Closing Remarks 139

References 143

Index 167