| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 55, Number 6, September II 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 774 - 780 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2001-00347-0 | |
| Published online | 01 December 2003 | |
Scaling in ecological size spectra
1
Departament de Física (Física Estadística),
Edifici C Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona - 08193 Barcelona, Spain
2
Complex Systems Research Group, Department of Physics, FEN
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Nord B4 - 08034 Barcelona,
Spain
3
Santa Fe Institute - 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
Received:
12
April
2001
Accepted:
4
July
2001
Size distributions in some ecosystems follow a power behavior spanning up
to ten orders of magnitude. A model for the origins of this scaling behavior is
presented. The model shows that the intrinsic dynamics of the system leads
to a power law distribution, 
with 
, in agreement with field data. We assume that each individual is
eventually the predator of all smaller individual, thereby connecting all
elements in the food web among themselves. We consider reproduction and
death coming from predation and natural mortality. It is shown that the most
important mechanism generating the exponent 
is predation.
PACS: 05.45.-a – Nonlinear dynamics and nonlinear dynamical systems / 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion / 87.23.-n – Ecology and evolution
© EDP Sciences, 2001
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