Ecosystem function in predator-prey food webs - confronting dynamic models with empirical data

1. Most ecosystem functions and related services involve species interactions across trophic levels, e.g. pollination and biological pest control. Despite this, our understanding of ecosystem function in multi-trophic communities is poor, and research has been limited to either manipulations in small communities or statistical descriptions in larger ones. 2. Recent advances in food web ecology may allow us to overcome the trade-off between mechanistic insight and ecological realism. Molecular tools now simplify the detection of feeding interactions, and trait-based approaches allow the application of dynamic food web models to real ecosystems. We performed the first test of an allometric food web model’s ability to replicate temporally non-aggregated abundance data from the field, and to provide mechanistic insight into the function of predation. 3. We aimed to reproduce and explore the drivers of the population dynamics of the aphid herbivore Rhopalosiphum padi observed in ten Swedish ...