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 ...1. 绝大多数生态系统功能及其关联服务均涉及跨营养级（trophic levels）的物种互作，例如传粉（pollination）与生物害虫防治（biological pest control）。尽管如此，学界对多营养级群落的生态系统功能的认知仍较为匮乏，相关研究要么局限于小型群落的操控实验，要么仅针对大型群落开展统计描述。 2. 近年来食物网生态学（food web ecology）的进展或可帮助我们突破机制性洞察与生态现实性之间的权衡困境。当前，分子工具可简化取食互作的检测流程，基于功能性状的研究方法则能将动态食物网模型应用于真实生态系统。本研究首次测试了异速食物网模型（allometric food web model）复刻野外时间未聚合丰度数据的能力，并为捕食作用的功能提供了机制性阐释。 3. 本研究旨在重现并解析瑞典10个样地中观测到的蚜虫植食者——麦二叉蚜（Rhopalosiphum padi）的种群动态驱动因素。