Global stability, local stability and permanence in model food webs

Authors
Citation
X. Chen et Je. Cohen, Global stability, local stability and permanence in model food webs, J THEOR BIO, 212(2), 2001, pp. 223-235
Citations number
30
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary
Journal title
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
ISSN journal
0022-5193 → ACNP
Volume
212
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
223 - 235
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-5193(20010921)212:2<223:GSLSAP>2.0.ZU;2-X
Abstract
The dynamical theory of food webs has been based typically on local stabili ty analysis. The relevance of local stability to food web properties has be en questioned because local stability holds only in the immediate vicinity of the equilibrium and provides no information about the size of the basin of attraction. Local stability does not guarantee persistence of food webs in stochastic environments. Moreover, local stability excludes more complex dynamics such as periodic and chaotic behaviors, which may allow persisten ce. Global stability and permanence could be better criteria of community p ersistence. Our simulation analysis suggests that these three stability mea sures are qualitatively consistent in that all three predict decreasing sta bility with increasing complexity. Some new predictions on how stability de pends on food web configurations are generated here: a consumer-victim link has a smaller effect on the probabilities of stability, as measured by all three stability criteria, than a pair of recipient-controlled and donor-co ntrolled links; a recipient-controlled link has a larger effect on the prob abilities of local stability and permanence than a donor-controlled link, w hile they have the same effect on the probability of global stability; food webs with equal proportions of donor-controlled and recipient-con trolled links are less stable than those with different proportions. (C) 2001 Acade mic Press.