Dynamical and system-wide properties of linear flow-quantified food webs

This paper analyses the transient dynamics, steady states, and a set of diagnostic system-wide properties of a linear flow-quantified pastoral food web from the Chernivtsi Region of Ukraine. The web in question is one of 31 so-described; it contains 86 nodes and 496 links. On-line simulation and network analysis software EcoNet was used to quantify transient dynamics, steady states, and eleven system-wide index parameters. Food-web flows were classified into inputs, interior flows, and outputs. The last two (endogenous) were represented by linear, mass-balance, flow coefficients. The three sets, inputs plus these coefficients, were systematically manipulated in their entirety in different combinations over seven orders of magnitude to determine their effects on system properties. The results of these trials are described and interpreted. They show that linear descriptions of empirical food webs harbor considerable dynamic and relational complexity.