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Berryman, A.A.; Michalski, J.; Gutierrez, A.P.; Arditi, R.
Logistic Theory of Food Web Dynamics
1995 Ecology (76): 336-343
Classical food-web theory arises from Lotka-Volterra models. As an alternative, we develop a model from the logistic concept of demand and supply. We first extend the logistic to an arbitrary species in a trophic chain or stack by developing a simple equation for any population Xi which includes the effects of intra-specific competition for fixed resources, intra-specific competition for renewable resources in the lower trophic level, and consumers in the upper trophic level. This equation emerges from the basic logistic concept of demand and supply, as captured by the consumer/resource ratios, and fulfills all the requirements for a plausible food-chain equation. We then generalize the equation to any population in a food web of arbitrary complexity. This equation meets all the requirements for a general food web model. Some properties of the model are discussed.
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