Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

Aims

(1) To assess the effects of warming on the pattern of predation interactions. 

 (2)  To assess how groups of ecological equivalence vary between cold and warm periods in the Eastern Bering Sea

In this study I used the group model to identify species groupings in the Eastern Bering food web. I focused on the simpler dataset i.e. a bipartite food web of the Eastern Bering food web which comprised of a set of commercially and ecologically important consumer species and their resources. Since close related species may have similar functions e.g. feeding patterns, habitant preferences and other traits (Blomberg, Garland, and Ives 2003) and that taxonomic partition may significantly provide insights and explain food structures (Eklöf et al. 2012). I used this principle particularly to access how groups of ecological equivalence varied between cold and warm years and also how warming  affects pattern of predation interactions in the Eastern Bering Sea ecosystem.

FUNCTIONAL GROUP MODEL:

Is a group based model used in predicting the structure of large food webs. It groups all species together into groups if they ate and got eaten by the same other groups of species. The model provides a basis to examine the significance of groups in biological networks.