Research
New Metrics to Quantify Food Web Structure
Gray snapper can have a high degree of intraspecific niche variability
In species-rich, complex food webs, many traditional approaches to elucidate food web structure are difficult to employ. As such, new approaches to understand food web structure are increasingly needed - especially in light of widespread and on-going impacts to ecosystems globally. I have proposed a novel application of stable isotope ratios that provides a quantitative, community-wide measure of characteristics of food web structure. Since stable isotope ratios in proteins of consumers reflect those of their diets in such a predictable manner, they provide a powerful tool to infer diet and trophic relationships.