Chapter 18 Suggested Readings
Beer, C., M. Reichstein, E. Tomelleri, P. Ciais, M. Jung, N. Carvalhais, C. Rödenbeck, M
Altaf Arain, D. Baldocchi, G. B. Bonan, A. Bondeau, A. Cescatti, G. Lasslop, A.
Lindroth, M. Lomas, S. Luyssaert, H. Margolis, K. Oleson, O. Roupsard, E.
Veenendaal, N. Viovy, C. Williams, F Ian Woodward, D. Papale. 2010. Terrestrial
gross carbon dioxide uptake: global distribution and covariation with climate. Science
329:834-38.
An estimate of gross primary production on local and global scales based on massive
data sets collected at 352 sites, including the contributions of individual biomes to global
primary production.
Bell, T., W. E. Neill, and D. Schluter. 2003. The effect of temporal scale on the outcome
of trophic cascade experiments. Oecologia 134:578–86.
This research reviews a series of works, examining the influence of time on the
persistence of trophic cascade effects.
Carpenter, S. R. and J. F. Kitchell. 1993. The Trophic Cascade in Lakes. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
An engaging synthesis of the authors’ work on trophic cascades. The book outlines one of
the pioneering large-scale experiments in ecology.
Cebrian, J., J. B. Shurin, E. T. Borer, B. J. Cardinale, J. T. Ngai, M. D. Smith, and W. F.
Fagan. 2009. Producer nutritional quality controls ecosystem trophic structure. Plos
ONE 4(3):e4929.
A fascinating study demonstrating that nutritional quality of primary producers has far
reaching influences on the trophic structure of ecosystems.
Codispoti, L. A. 1997. The limits to growth. Nature 387:237–38.
Falkowski, P. G. 1997. Evolution of the nitrogen cycle and its influence on the biological
sequestration of CO2 in the ocean. Nature 387:272–75.
This pair of papers reviews the evidence for nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron limitation of
marine primary production on short and long timescales. Their discussions demonstrate
that there is much to learn even in regard to well-established generalizations, such as
nutrient limitation of aquatic primary production.
Estes, J. A., M. T. Tinker, T. M. Williams and D. F. Doak. 1998. Killer whale predation
on sea otters linking oceanic and nearshore ecosystems. Science 282:473–76.
One of the classic studies of trophic cascades; Estes and his colleagues show how a few
killer whales shifting their diet has resulted in the collapse of sea otter populations in
western Alaska.
Hebblewhite, M., C. A. White, C. G. Nietvelt, M. A. McKenzie, T. E. Hurd, J. M.
Fryxell, S. E. Bayley, and P. C. Paquet. 2005. Human activity mediates a trophic
cascade caused by wolves. Ecology 86:2135–44.
One of the clearest and most thorough demonstrations of a terrestrial trophic cascade.
The researchers clearly delineate the direct and indirect interactions in the cascade.
Jones, J. I. and C. A. Sayer. 2003. Does the fish-invertebrate-periphyton cascade
precipitate plant loss in shallow lakes? Ecology 84:2155–67.
An intriguing paper that reports on a trophic cascade in the littoral zone of lakes,
involving invertebrate-feeding fish, invertebrates, periphyton, and littoral zone plants.
Meserve, P. L., D. A. Kelt, W. B. Milstead, and J. R. Gutiérrez. 2003. Thirteen years of
shifting top-down and bottom-up control. BioScience 53:633–46.
This long-term study of a terrestrial ecosystem in Chile documents a shifting influence of
top-down and bottom-up control of community structure that depends on large-scale
climate dynamics.
Polis, G. A., A. L. W. Sears, G. R. Huxel, D. R. Strong, and J. Maron. 2000. When is a
trophic cascade a trophic cascade? Trends in Ecology & Evolution 15:473–75.
This is a thought-provoking call for consistency in the way ecologists use the term
“trophic cascade.”
Ripple, W. J. and R. L. Beschta. 2004. Wolves and the ecology of fear: can predation
risk structure ecosystems? BioScience 54:755–66.
Ripple, W. J. and R. L. Beschta. 2007 Restoring Yellowstone’s aspen with wolves.
Biological Conservation 138:514–19.
Two key papers concerning the unfolding evidence for a wolf-elk-aspen trophic cascade
in Yellowstone National Park.
Schmitz, O. J., P. A. Hamback, and A. P. Beckerman. 2000. Trophic cascades in
terrestrial systems: a review of the effects of carnivore removals on plants. American
Naturalist 155:141–53.
A review that supports the applicability of the trophic cascade hypothesis to terrestrial as
well as aquatic systems.
Sinclair, A. R. E., S. Mduma, and J. S. Brashares. 2003. Patterns of predation in a diverse
predator-prey system. Nature 425:288–90.
Terborgh, J., K. Feeley, M. Silman, P. Nuñez, and B. Balukjian. 2006. Vegetation
dynamics of predator-free land-bridge islands. Journal of Ecology 94:253–63.
These two studies take advantage of exceptional situations to investigate the potential for
trophic cascades in two tropical ecosystems. The first shows the potential for a trophic
cascade on the Serengeti by demonstrating that predators control the abundance of
several species of mammalian herbivores, while the second documents a trophic cascade
in a South American tropical forest.
Thomey, M. L., S. L. Collins, R. Vargas, J. E. Johnson, R. F. Brown, D. O. Natvig, and
M. T. Friggens. 2011. Effect of precipitation variability on net primary production
and soil respiration in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland. Global Change Biology
17:1505-15.
The research team shows that in arid systems variability in precipitation may be more
important than total precipitation, that is, a few large precipitation events provides more
of a stimulus to primary production than many small events.
Trussell, G. C., P. J. Ewanchuk, and C. M. Matassa. 2006. The fear of being eaten
reduces energy transfer in a simple food chain. Ecology 87:2979–84.
Intriguing demonstration of how fear of predation reduces ecological efficiency in an
intertidal community.