9510113 Solow This proposed effort will conduct a 4-week summer school workshop, the fourth in a series devoted to comparisons of marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, to focus on food web structure and dynamics. Food webs represent the feeding relationships between various types of organisms and are part of the core subject matter in ecology. Food web theory and data are crucial to dealing with many environmental issues of social importance; water quality, marine and freshwater fisheries, species conservation, global climate change, agroecosystems, and the movement of toxic materials. Three basic features of food webs are there structures, their dynamics, and their relationships to the physical and chemical environment. Although these features are still far from being understood, empirical and theoretical ecologists are rapidly building up a body of descriptive data and testable theory. The proposed course will include a series of lectures focused on the fundamental theory in each of these areas. This will provide a basis for more specialized lectures. These lectures will address other key issues, including indirect effects in food webs, differences between food webs in different types of environments, and the application of food web theory to a number of environmental problems in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems.
