A trophic continuum derived from plant structure, animal size and a detritus cascade.

Abstract A new model of trophic interactions in large many species ecosystems is presented. This trophic continuum model is defined by organisms harvesting resources from an environment. Animal size classes, a classification of plant products and detritus initiates the resource descriptions of ecosystems. Strategic trophic models are reviewed. Trophic interactions are Markovian. The Lindeman trophic level concept is criticized for its dependence on the history of energy flow rather than an assessment of the present resource state. Criteria for a strategic model of ecosystem energetics are specified as the indivisibility of herbivore and detritovore chains; the non-equivalence of different trophic transfers; and that the plant is not a single reference point to scale trophic space. Elton's pyramid of number met these criteria. The trophic continuum model points to closer links between theories of energy flow, species diversity and ecosystem heterogeneity.

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