Ecology 5th Edition by Manuel Molles

Exercise 8

Winemiller (1990) deleted "weak" trophic links from one set of food webs that he described for fish communities in Venezuela (see fig. 17.3). What was his criterion for designating weak interactions? Earlier, Paine (1980) suggested that ecologists could learn something by focusing on "strong" links in communities. How did Paine's criterion for determining a strong link differ from Winemiller's?
Figure 17.3 Food web representing the feeding relations of the 10 most common fish species at Caño Volcán, Venezuela, ( a ) with all feeding relationships represented and ( b ) with weak feeding relationships excluded (data from Winemiller 1990).