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Regular articleConsumer power as the major evolutionary force

Koichiro Matsuno - No affiliation found

1995/03/21 Full-length article DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.1995.0051 Journal: Journal of Theoretical Biology

Abstract:

AbstractEach trophic level in evolving ecosystems can behave as either a supplier toward the downstream of trophic energy flow or a consumer toward the upstream, or an arbitrary mixture of the two. We show that each trophic level behaves almost completely as a consumer in evolutionarily sustainable ecosystems. The present prevalence of consumers in evolving ecosystems derives from a model trophic dynamics minimizing the artificial constraints to be applied arbitrarily.