Consumer species (intermediate and predator species) was more sensitive to change in the food-web when reintroduced. A theory for this is that change in the food-web could mean less prey for the consumer species to feed on (e.g. some of their natural prey decreases or goes extinct).
This can be seen in figure 2 and 3 where there is a correlation to the number of species left in the food web and reintroduction success.
Figure 2. Intermediate species. The probability of reintroduction success depending on how many species that is left when reintroducing an intermediate species. When there was less than 4 species left in the food-web there were too few data points, hence they were removed. This figure is based on both connectances with 4800 reintroduction attempts.
Figure 3. Top predator species. The probability of reintroduction success depending on how many species that is left when reintroducing a top predator species. When there was less than 4 species left in the food-web there were too few data points, hence they were removed. This figure is based on both connectances with 3600 reintroduction attempts.
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Director of undergraduate studies Biology
Last updated:
05/26/11