The effects of habitat size and energy on food web structure: An individual-based cellular automata model

It has been suggested that habitat size may affect food web structure. In this paper, I discuss three possible mechanisms: biogeographic effects, the productive space hypothesis and spatial effects on the persistence of unstable predator-prey systems. A multispecies, individual-based cellular automata model, representing small, freshwater, benthic habitats, is developed which allows these mechanisms to be explored in more detail. The model suggests that biogeographic effects, and spatial effects on the persistence of unstable predator-prey systems, may be important, but the effects of productivity are more complex than the productive space hypothesis assumes.