The role of edible habitat complexity in food webs

Abstract

Habitat complexity (HC) in part determines the diversity, stability, and behavior of food webs and can influence predation according to a wide variety of functional relationships. Many aquatic species provide HC and are also consumed by other species (e.g., macrophytes, corals, mussels). However, food web theory does not readily account for these species that act as “edible habitat complexity”. We combine existing theory on consumer–resource interactions, HC, and prey switching to describe the role of edible habitat complexity in benthic food web models. We dissect feedback loops in a series of models to demonstrate how self-regulation of the prey species, mediated by species densities and HC, drives that model's behavior. Habitat complexity can stabilize consumer–resource interactions by coupling prey self-regulation with HC self-regulation. Edible habitat complexity can further stabilize consumer–resource interactions across a wide variety of “HC functions” that relate HC to predation rates.