A Note on Trophic Complexity and Community Stability.¶
Paine, R. T. (1969). A Note on Trophic Complexity and Community Stability. The American Naturalist, 103(929), 91-93.
Cited by¶
6 citations across 6 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Caldera Collapse
- Keystone-loss ecosystems: a keystone population is depleted over years while the network appears stable, then collapses abruptly past a threshold.
This sourceIntroduces the keystone-species concept whose depletion can abruptly collapse a community past a threshold.
- Keystone-loss ecosystems: a keystone population is depleted over years while the network appears stable, then collapses abruptly past a threshold.
- Chesterton's Fence
- The intervention the prime prescribes — investigate the role before clearing — is exactly modern keystone-species analysis.
This sourceIntroduces the keystone-species concept — investigating a species' disproportionate community role before assuming it superfluous.
- The intervention the prime prescribes — investigate the role before clearing — is exactly modern keystone-species analysis.
- Positional Advantage
- In biology it is territory and trophic position: an organism holding a defended territory — a watering hole, a nesting site, a feeding ground — enjoys preferential access and lower contest costs by virtue of where it sits rather than its raw fighting strength, and a species occupying a keystone position in a food web exerts influence on community structure out of all proportion to its biomass, because its position in the web of trophic relations, not its abundance, is what confers leverage.
This sourceIntroduces the keystone-species concept: influence on community structure out of proportion to biomass by virtue of trophic position.
- In biology it is territory and trophic position: an organism holding a defended territory — a watering hole, a nesting site, a feeding ground — enjoys preferential access and lower contest costs by virtue of where it sits rather than its raw fighting strength, and a species occupying a keystone position in a food web exerts influence on community structure out of all proportion to its biomass, because its position in the web of trophic relations, not its abundance, is what confers leverage.
- Single Point of Failure
- In ecology, a keystone species whose removal restructures the food web is a single point through which many trophic relationships are mediated.
This sourceIntroduces the keystone-species concept: a single species (Pisaster) whose removal restructures the entire food web — the ecological articulation node.
- In ecology, a keystone species whose removal restructures the food web is a single point through which many trophic relationships are mediated.
- Sponsor Vacuum
- Even ecological keystone roles fit the shape: a suppressed-but-not-removed top predator or fire regime leaves a system behaving as if the regulating role were still in place — until the consequences of its non-engagement arrive at scale.
This sourceIntroduces the keystone-species concept: a regulating species whose suppression or removal leaves the system behaving as before until consequences arrive at scale.
- Even ecological keystone roles fit the shape: a suppressed-but-not-removed top predator or fire regime leaves a system behaving as if the regulating role were still in place — until the consequences of its non-engagement arrive at scale.
Mechanisms¶
Verification¶
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