2017:groups:g8:start
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- | 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 chironomid flies which emerge from algae grazing larvae. To explain how a subarctic lake can sustain such insect densities, Herren and her colleagues (2017) have investigated if chironomid larval populations could have a strong positive effects on algal productivity. These effects would imply that the net interaction between chironomid larvae and its main food source is actually mutualistic and that abundance and/or biomass of both the primary consumer (larvae) and the producer (algae) are expected to increase due to a positive feedback. | + | 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 |
===== Assignment ===== | ===== Assignment ===== | ||
Develop and analyze a simple mathematical model capturing both negative and positive interactions between chironomids and the algae they consume. | Develop and analyze a simple mathematical model capturing both negative and positive interactions between chironomids and the algae they consume. | ||
===== Questions & Suggestions ===== | ===== Questions & Suggestions ===== | ||
- | * Do different | + | * Do different |
- | * Chironomid populations fluctuate several orders of magnitude on irregular periods of 4 to 7 years. Can the positive feedback suggested by Herren et al. 2017 help to explain these fluctuations? | + | * Chironomid populations fluctuate |
* Suggestion: Taking the discussion section in Herren et al. 2017 as a starting point, debate which are the main factors that impose an upper limit to chironomid population sizes. Are these internal or external factors? How should this be incorporated in a model? | * Suggestion: Taking the discussion section in Herren et al. 2017 as a starting point, debate which are the main factors that impose an upper limit to chironomid population sizes. Are these internal or external factors? How should this be incorporated in a model? | ||
===== References ===== | ===== 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: | + | 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: |
+ | |||
+ | ===== Results ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * [[http:// | ||
2017/groups/g8/start.1484114821.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/01/09 18:45 (external edit)