Abstract
A food web is a map that describes which kinds of organisms in a community eat which other kinds. A web helps picture how a community is put together and how it works. Although webs were often initially reported in despair at ever understanding ecological complexity, recently discovered widespread patterns in the shapes of webs, and theoretical explanations for these patterns, indicate that webs are orderly and intelligible, and have some foreseeable consequences for the dynamics of communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Darwin, C. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (John Murray, London, 1859), (Facsimile reprint: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1964).
Forbes, S. A. Ecological Investigations of Stephen Alfred Forbes (1844–1932) (reprint: Arno Press, New York, 1977).
Pierce, W. D., Cushman, R. A. & Hood, C. E. U.S. Dept Agric. Bull. 100, 9–99 (1912).
Shelford, V. E. Bull Geogr. Soc. Chicago 5 (1913) (reprint: Arno Press, New York, 1977).
Cohen, J. E. Food Webs and Niche Space (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1978).
Cohen, J. E., Briand, F. & Newman, C. M. Community food webs: Data and theory (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990).
Cohen, J. E. Ecologists Co-operative Web Bank (ECOWeB™). Version 1.0. Machine Readable Data Base of Food Webs (Rockefeller University, New York, 1989).
Sugihara, G. Proc. Symp. appl. Math. 30, 3–101 (1984).
Pimm, S. L. Food Webs (Chapman and Hall, London, 1982).
Paine, R. T. Ecology 69, 1648–1654 (1988).
Jeffries, J. J. & Lawton, J. H. Freshwater Biol. 15, 105–112 (1985).
Cohen, J. E. Theor. Pop. Biol. 37, 55–90 (1990).
Sugihara, G., Schoenly, K. & Trombla, A. Science 245, 48–52 (1989).
Warren, P. Am. Nat. 316, 689–700 (1990).
Winemiller, K. O. Am. Nat. 134, 960–968 (1989).
Beaver, R. A. Ecol. Ent. 10, 241–248 (1985).
Kitching, R. L. & Pimm, S. L. Proc. Ecol. Soc. Austr. 14, 123–139 (1986).
Kitching, R. L. & Beaver, R. A. in Living in Patchy Environments (eds Shorrocks, B, & Swingland, I. R.) 147–175 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990).
Schoener, T. W. Ecology 70, 1559–1589 (1989).
Kitching, R. L. Oikos 48, 280–288 (1987).
Schoenly, K. & Cohen, J. E. Ecol. Monogr. (in the press).
Schoenly, K., Beaver, R. A. & Heumier, T. A. Am. Nat. (in the press).
Yodzis, P. Oecologia (Berl.) 65, 86–88 (1984).
Pimm, S. L. & Kitching, R. L. Oikos 50, 302–307 (1987).
Lawton, J. H. in Ecological Concepts (ed. Cherett, J. M.) 43–78 (Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1989).
Warren, P. H. & Lawton, J. H. Oecologia (Berl.) 74, 231–235 (1987).
Vėzina, A. F. Oecologia (Berl.) 67, 555–565 (1985).
Carpenter, S. R. Complex Interactions in Lake Communities (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988).
Pimm, S. L. The Balance of Nature? (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1991).
Robinson, J. V. & Valentine, W. D. J. theor. Biol. 81, 91–104 (1979).
Shigesada, N., Kawasaki, K. & Teramoto, E. Theor. Pop. Biol. 36, 311–338 (1989).
Post, W. M. & Pimm, S. L. Math. Biosci. 64, 169–192 (1983).
Drake, J. A. J. theor. Biol. 147, 213–234 (1990).
Holt, R. D. Theor. Pop. Biol. 12, 197–229 (1977).
Mithen, S. J. & Lawton, J. H. Oecologia (Berl.) 69, 542–550 (1986).
Pimm, S. L. & Rice, J. A. Theor. Pop. Biol. 32, 303–325 (1987).
Cohen, J. E., Luczak, T., Newman, C. M. & Zhou, Z. M. Proc. R. Soc. B240, 607–627 (1990).
May, R. M. Nature 238, 413–414 (1972).
Pimm, S. L. Nature 307, 321–326 (1984).
Redfearn, A. & Pimm, S. L. in Insect Pests (eds Barbosa, P. & Schultz, J. C). 99–133 (Academic Press, Orlando, Fl, 1987).
Redfearn, A. & Pimm, S. L. Ecol. Monogr. 58, 39–55 (1988).
Redfearn, A. & Pimm, S. L. in Predation (ed. Crawley, M.) (Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1991).
Schoener, T. W. Am. Nat. 122, 240–285 (1983).
Connell, J. H. Am. Nat. 122, 661–696 (1983).
Sih, A., Crowley, P., McPeek, M., Petranka, J. & Strohmeier, K. A. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 16, 269–311 (1985).
Yodzis, P. Ecology 69, 508–515 (1988).
Patten, B. C. Can. J. Fish. Aq. Sci. 213, 119–138 (1985).
Lane, P. A. in The Biology of Mutualism: Ecology and Evolution (ed. Boucher, D. H.) 345–374 (Croom Helm, London, 1985).
Brown, J. H., Davidson, D. W., Munger, J. C. & Inouye, R. S. in Community Ecology (eds Diamond, J. & Case, T. J.) 41–62 (Harper & Row, New York, 1986).
King, A. W. & Pimm, S. L. Am. Nat. 122, 229–239 (1983).
McNaughton, S. J. Ecol. Monogr. 55, 259–294 (1985).
Polis, G. Am. Nat. (in the press).
May, R. M. Science 241, 1441–1449 (1988).
Hawkins, B. A. & Lawton, J. H. Nature 326, 788–790 (1987).
Kohn, A. J. Ecol. Monogr. 29, 47–90 (1959).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pimm, S., Lawton, J. & Cohen, J. Food web patterns and their consequences. Nature 350, 669–674 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350669a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350669a0
This article is cited by
-
Complexity–stability trade-off in empirical microbial ecosystems
Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022)
-
Construction and analysis of a coral reef trophic network for Qilianyu Islands, Xisha Islands
Acta Oceanologica Sinica (2022)
-
Ecological network complexity scales with area
Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022)
-
Polymetallic nodules are essential for food-web integrity of a prospective deep-seabed mining area in Pacific abyssal plains
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis on the Black Fly Communities (Diptera, Simuliidae) in Tropical Streams
Neotropical Entomology (2021)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.