Cover; Contents; Chapter 1 Approaches to studying food webs; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Traditions in ecology; 1.2.1 The community perspective; 1.2.2 The ecosystem perspective; 1.3 Food webs and traditions in ecology; 1.3.1 Theoretically based food webs; 1.3.2 Empirically based food webs: architecture; 1.3.3 Empirically based food webs: information; 1.3.4 How useful are these descriptions?; 1.4 Bridging perspectives through energetics; 1.4.1 Core concepts and elements; 1.4.2 Comments on our approach to studying food webs; 1.5 An overview of the parts and chapters; 1.6 Summary.Part I: Modeling simple andmultispecies communitiesChapter 2 Models of simple and complex systems; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Model structure and assumptions; 2.3 Stability; 2.4 Simple food chains; 2.5 The dynamics of primary-producer-based and detritus-based models; 2.6 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 3 Connectedness food webs; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Soil food webs; 3.3 The CPER soil food web; 3.4 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 4 Energy flux food webs; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Biomass and physiological parameters; 4.3 Feeding rates and mineralization rates; 4.4 Energy flux descriptions.4.5 Summary and conclusionsChapter 5 Functional webs; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Interaction strengths; 5.3 A functional food web for the CPER; 5.4 Summary and conclusions; Part II: The dynamics and stability of simple and complex communities; Chapter 6 Energetic organization and food web stability; 6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Energetic organization and stability; 6.3 Distribution of interaction strengths: trophic-level-dependent interaction strengths; 6.4 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 7 Enrichment, trophic structure, and stability; 7.1 Introduction.7.2 Simple primary-producer-based and detritus-based models7.3 Trophic structure and dynamics along a productivity gradient; 7.4 More complex models; 7.5 Connections to real-world productivity; 7.6 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 8 Modeling compartments; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 Complexity, diversity, compartments, and stability; 8.3 Defining compartments; 8.4 Approaches to studying compartments; 8.5 The energy channel; 8.6 Energy channels-structure and stability; 8.7 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 9 Productivity, dynamic stability, and species richness; 9.1 Introduction.9.2 Trophic structure, dynamics, and productivity9.3 Feasibility revisited; 9.4 Feasibility and the hump-shaped curve; 9.5 Trophic structure and the diversity of production; 9.6 A review of hypotheses; 9.7 Summary and conclusions; Part III: Dynamic food web architectures; Chapter 10 Species-based versus biomass-based food web descriptions; 10.1 Introduction; 10.2 Dynamic food webs-playing Jenga; 10.3 Two case studies; 10.4 Stability, disturbance, and transition; 10.5 Summary and conclusions; Chapter 11 Dynamic architectures and stability of complex systems along productivity gradients.