Meeting Abstract
Habitat loss, over-harvesting, culling, and introductions are drastically changing predator communities, which in turn modify the structure of prey communities and affect ecosystem structure and function, with potentially large socio-economic consequences. However, we lack a general framework for predicting how changes in predator communities influence prey populations and ecosystem functions. Current methods assessing predator functional diversity are often idiosyncratic, and divorced from theoretical or statistical models. Further, current statistical models for predicting the effects of predator diversity conflate predictable nonlinear effects and context-dependent interactions. We overcome these challenges by developing models that (1) explicitly account for effects of nonlinearity in predation rates, and (2) by explicitly linking definitions of predator functional diversity to theoretical models that link predator and prey dynamics. By disentangling apparent emergent effects, nonlinear predator-prey interactions, and context dependence, which are typically conflated in current studies, we will be able to more reliably forecast how changes in predator diversity will affect ecosystem function.
