Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/B503809/1
Development of food web structure through sequential assembly of species and phenotypic evolution.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor R Law, University of York, Biology
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor A McKane, The University of Manchester, Physics and Astronomy
- Grant held at:
- University of York, Biology
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Marine
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Population Genetics/Evolution
- Population Ecology
- Conservation Ecology
- Community Ecology
- Abstract:
- Current research on complex systems points to the existence of general 'small world' properties irrespective of the particular kind of network. However, food webs stand out as being anomalous, as the number of links per node appears not to have a power-law distribution, and hubs with large numbers of links are rare. This research programme investigates several important features of food webs not shared by many other kinds of network, to see what part they play in making food webs special. For instance, the nodes (trophic species) have population dynamics that allow some web configurations but not others; food webs are gradually assembled through the dynamics that act at each step: the species evolve as a result of the selection pressures generated by interactions with other species; they may even undergo speciation by passing through branching points of evolution. The research entails computation and mathematics to construct food webs by these different methods; the properties of the emergent webs are compared, so that the effects of population dynamics, sequential assembly, phenotypic evolution and speciation on food web structure can be determined. The research is carried out at the University of York under the supervision of Dr Richard Law and Dr Alan McKane (Manchester University), at a total cost of #130546. The research supports NERC's mission of increasing basic knowledge of the Earth's life-support systems: food webs are vital components of these systems, and strategic understanding of their network properties will help understanding of species extinctions and introductions on the persistence of other species in food webs.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/B503809/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £140,947
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £85,461 | £13,740 | £2,432 | £39,312 |
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