Parasites Affect Food Web Structure Primarily through Increased Diversity and Complexity
Figure 3
Scale dependence of niche and probabilistic niche model results.
(A) Mean absolute niche ME (|ME|) for 14 properties as a function of S. (B) The fraction of observed links (ƒL) predicted by the one-dimensional probabilistic niche model as a function of S. (C) The ƒL predicted by the one-dimensional probabilistic niche model as a function of L. Solid black circles show results for ten (A) or 28 (B) previously studied free-living species webs (Table S5). Open black circles show results for the seven intertidal free-living species webs analyzed in the current study. Red diamonds show results for the seven intertidal webs with parasites but not concomitant links. Blue diamonds show results for the seven intertidal webs with parasites and concomitant links. The black line shows the linear regression through the free-living species webs.