Seasonal shifts in trophic interaction strength drive stability of
natural food webs
Abstract
It remains challenging to understand why natural food webs are
remarkably stable despite pronounced variability in environmental
factors and population densities. We analysed the dynamics in the
structure and stability of the pelagic food web of Lake Constance using
seven years of high-frequency observations of biomasses and production,
leading to 59 seasonally resolved quantitative food web descriptions. We
analysed the dynamics in asymptotic food web stability using maximum
loop weight, which revealed mechanisms governing stability. Maximum loop
weight showed a recurrent seasonal pattern while indicating consistently
high stability despite pronounced dynamics in biomasses and fluxes. This
arose from rewiring of the food web structure along seasons, which
counteracted destabilization by enhanced productivity. The rewiring
originated from energetic constraints within loops and how loops were
embedded into food web structure. The stabilizing dynamics originated
from the counter-acting effect between high metabolic activity and
competitiveness/susceptibility to predation within a diverse grazer
community.