TY - JOUR

T1 - Infochemicals structure marine, terrestrial and freshwater food webs: Implications for ecological informatics

AU - Vos, Matthijs

AU - Vet, Louise E. M.

AU - Wäckers, Felix L.

AU - Middelburg, Jack J.

AU - Van Der Putten, Wim H.

AU - Mooij, Wolf M.

AU - Heip, Carlo H. R.

AU - Van Donk, Ellen

PY - 2006/1

Y1 - 2006/1

N2 - Here we consider how information transfer shapes interactions in aquatic and terrestrial food webs. All organisms, whether they are dead or alive, release certain chemicals into their environment. These can be used as infochemicals by any other individual in the food web that has the biological machinery to sense and process such information. Such machinery has evolved in bacteria, plants and animals and has thus become an inextricable part of the mechanisms that underlie feeding relations in food webs. Organisms live in environments suffused with infochemicals and this information network can be tapped into by both predators and their prey. However, it also opens doors to confusion in the face of a bewildering abundance and complexity of information. Infochemical mixing, masking, crypsis and mimicry could cause such confusion, especially in species-rich communities. We provide a point of entry into this field of enquiry by identifying seminal papers and major reviews and by discussing research lines that might enhance our mechanistic understanding of interactions in food webs. We highlight empirical work on the ways in which individuals use infochemicals and discuss model results on how this mediates patterns of population dynamics. We consider implications for ecosystem management and indicate how classical models and novel approaches from ecological informatics may contribute to linking the levels of individuals, populations and communities and their interactions with abiotic structuring forces in ecosystems.

AB - Here we consider how information transfer shapes interactions in aquatic and terrestrial food webs. All organisms, whether they are dead or alive, release certain chemicals into their environment. These can be used as infochemicals by any other individual in the food web that has the biological machinery to sense and process such information. Such machinery has evolved in bacteria, plants and animals and has thus become an inextricable part of the mechanisms that underlie feeding relations in food webs. Organisms live in environments suffused with infochemicals and this information network can be tapped into by both predators and their prey. However, it also opens doors to confusion in the face of a bewildering abundance and complexity of information. Infochemical mixing, masking, crypsis and mimicry could cause such confusion, especially in species-rich communities. We provide a point of entry into this field of enquiry by identifying seminal papers and major reviews and by discussing research lines that might enhance our mechanistic understanding of interactions in food webs. We highlight empirical work on the ways in which individuals use infochemicals and discuss model results on how this mediates patterns of population dynamics. We consider implications for ecosystem management and indicate how classical models and novel approaches from ecological informatics may contribute to linking the levels of individuals, populations and communities and their interactions with abiotic structuring forces in ecosystems.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Biological control

KW - Climate

KW - Dimethyl sulphide

KW - Global warming

KW - Individual based models

KW - Information networks in ecosystems

KW - Integration of laboratory and field data

KW - Learning

KW - Linking levels of ecological organization

KW - Lake restoration

KW - Phenotypic plasticity

KW - Trait-mediated interactions

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2005.06.001

DO - 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2005.06.001

M3 - Journal article

VL - 1

SP - 23

EP - 32

JO - Ecological Informatics

JF - Ecological Informatics

SN - 1574-9541

IS - 1

ER -