Food web dynamics in a seasonally varying wetland
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U.S. Geological Survey and Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, Florida 33143
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2.
Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33133
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3.
Everglades National Park, National Park Service, Homestead, Florida 33199
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Received:
01 December 2007
Accepted:
29 June 2018
Published:
01 October 2008
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MSC :
Primary: 92D40
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A spatially explicit model is developed to simulate the small fish community
and its underlying food web, in the freshwater marshes of the Everglades.
The community is simplified to a few small fish species feeding on
periphyton and invertebrates. Other compartments are detritus, crayfish, and
a piscivorous fish species. This unit food web model is applied to each of
the 10,000 spatial cells on a 100 x 100 pixel landscape. Seasonal variation
in water level is assumed and rules are assigned for fish movement in
response to rising and falling water levels, which can cause many spatial
cells to alternate between flooded and dry conditions. It is shown that
temporal variations of water level on a spatially heterogeneous landscape
can maintain at least three competing fish species. In addition, these
environmental factors can strongly affect the temporal variation of the food
web caused by top-down control from the piscivorous fish.
Citation: Donald L. DeAngelis, Joel C. Trexler, Douglas D. Donalson. Food web dynamics in a seasonally varying wetland[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2008, 5(4): 877-887. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2008.5.877
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Abstract
A spatially explicit model is developed to simulate the small fish community
and its underlying food web, in the freshwater marshes of the Everglades.
The community is simplified to a few small fish species feeding on
periphyton and invertebrates. Other compartments are detritus, crayfish, and
a piscivorous fish species. This unit food web model is applied to each of
the 10,000 spatial cells on a 100 x 100 pixel landscape. Seasonal variation
in water level is assumed and rules are assigned for fish movement in
response to rising and falling water levels, which can cause many spatial
cells to alternate between flooded and dry conditions. It is shown that
temporal variations of water level on a spatially heterogeneous landscape
can maintain at least three competing fish species. In addition, these
environmental factors can strongly affect the temporal variation of the food
web caused by top-down control from the piscivorous fish.
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