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Group 8
Positive effects of a primary consumer on its resource
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Introduction
Mývatn is a lake located in the north of Iceland known for its rich fauna and high productivity despite low local temperatures. The spectacular landscape comes, however, with a feature that may not be so attractive to tourists: massive insect swarms emerging from the lake every summer. In fact, Mývatn is the Icelandic word for lake of midges. The most abundant family of midges inhabiting this lake is the (luckily) non-biting chironomids.
Assignment
Develop and analyze a simple mathematical model
Questions & Suggestions
- Unordered List Item
- Chironomid populations fluctuate several orders of magnitude on irregular periods of 4 to 7 years. Can the positive feedback showed by Herren et al. 2017 help to explain these fluctuations?
References
Herren, Cristina M., Kyle C. Webert, Michael D. Drake, M. Jake Vander Zanden, Árni Einarsson, Anthony R. Ives, and Claudio Gratton. 2017. “Positive Feedback between Chironomids and Algae Creates Net Mutualism between Benthic Primary Consumers and Producers.” Ecology. doi:10.1002/ecy.1654.