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Science 13 August 1993:
Vol. 261. no. 5123, pp. 906 - 908
DOI: 10.1126/science.261.5123.906
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Articles

Influence of Productivity on the Stability of Real and Model Ecosystems

John C. Moore 1, Peter C. de Ruiter 2, and H. William Hunt 3

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80539
2 Department of Soil Biology, DLO-Institute for Soil Fertility Research, 9750 RA Haren (Groningen), Netherlands
3 Department of Range Science and the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80526

The lengths of food chains within ecosystems have been thought to be limited either by the productivity of the ecosystem or by the resilience of that ecosystem after perturbation. Models based on ecological energetics that follow the form of Lotka-Volterra equations and equations that include material (detritus) recycling show that productivity and resilience are inextricably interrelated. The models were initialized with data from 5-to 10-year studies of actual soil food webs. Estimates indicate that most ecological production worldwide is from ecosystems that are themselves sufficiently productive to recover from minor perturbations.

Submitted on January 25, 1993
Accepted on May 24, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Energetics, Patterns of Interaction Strengths, and Stability in Real Ecosystems.
P. C. de Ruiter, A.-M. Neutel, and J. C. Moore (1995)
Science 269, 1257-1260
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)