Ecological Archives E092-172-D1-Table2B

David W. Thieltges, Karsten Reise, Kim N. Mouritsen, John P. McLaughlin, and Robert Poulin. 2011. Food web including metazoan parasites for a tidal basin in Germany and Denmark. Ecology 92:2005.


TABLE 2B. Definitions of variables in the Nodes data sheet.

Column Number Column Header Variable Variable Description
1 Node ID nominal numeric The unordered nominal node specific ID number of the discrete species lifecycle stage.�
2 Species ID nominal numeric The unordered Species ID number. This is independent of Node ID number and is consistent across nodes depicting different lifecycle stages of the same species. If one wishes to combine across life stages they can substitute this number for the Node ID in analyses.
3 Stage ID nominal numeric The ordinal Stage ID number within species. Adult lifecycle stages are designated as 1. The youngest lifecycle stage is then 2, next youngest 3, etc. Each number corresponds to a particular lifecycle stage that is consistent within a group but not between them (e.g. for trematodes 2 = parthenitae, but for dipterans 2 = larvae). Not all of a species' lifecycle stages are necessarily present a particular food web.
4 Stage nominal enumerated Note, "adult" includes juveniles (prereproductives) for species with no metamorphosis separating the two.
5 SpSt ID nominal numeric The unique nominal numeric code for a node that combines Species ID and Stage ID, which are separated by a decimal point.
6 Working Name nominal A working name for each node that is intended to be informative and useful. When available, widely used common names were employed. If no common name exists then a species name was used. If no species name was available, then a working or descriptive name was employed.
7 Group Acanthocephalan Includes all Acanthocephala
7 Group Amphipod Includes all Amphipoda
7 Group Annelid Includes all Polychaete and Oligochaete, but not Hirudinea.
7 Group Anthozoan Includes all Anthozoa
7 Group Asteroid Includes all sea stars, but not brittlestars
7 Group Bacteria Includes all free-living bacteria
7 Group Barnacle Includes symbiotic and free-living Cirripedia
7 Group Bird Includes all Aves
7 Group Bivalve Includes all Bivalvia
7 Group Byrozoan Includes all Bryozoa
7 Group Cestode Includes all tapeworms
7 Group Copepod Includes only parasitic copepods
7 Group Crab Includes all Brachyura
7 Group Cumacean Includes all Cumacea
7 Group Detritus Includes all detritus and carrion.
7 Group Fish Includes all low movement resident fishes
7 Group Fish Includes all moderately mobile resident fishes
7 Group Fish Includes all highly mobile resident fishes
7 Group Fish Includes all migratory fishes
7 Group Hermit Crab Includes all Paguroidea
7 Group Isopod Includes all Isopoda
7 Group Mammal Includes all Mammalia
7 Group Meiofauna An aggregated assemblage that includes benthos between 1mm and 0.03 mm in body size, that are not broken out elsewhere (e.g. loriciferans, kinorhynchs and gnathostomulids).
7 Group Nematode Includes only parasitic Nematodes
7 Group Nemertean Includes all Nemertea
7 Group Plant Includes all photosynthesizers (phytoplankton, microphytobenthos, plants, algae) and parasitic plants.
7 Group Shrimp Includes all non-burrowing shrimp
7 Group Snail Includes all Gastropoda
7 Group Trematode Includes all Digenetic trematodes
7 Group Trematode Includes all Digenetic trematodes
7 Group Tunicate Includes all Ascidacea
7 Group Zooplankton An aggregated assembalge that includes all heterotrophic planktonic organisms (holoplankton and meroplankton) not broken out elsewhere
8 Node Type Detritus/Stock The node is a non-living resource stock. Examples: carrion, nitrate.
8 Node Type Organism Parts Node refers to a specific edible portion or part of an organism. Examples: the leaves, fruit or roots of a tree.
8 Node Type Taxon The node is resolved to a recognized taxonomic level (generally species) but has not been broken into discrete lifecycle stages. Examples: birds, fish.
8 Node Type Common Name The node is resolved to a commonly recognized ecologically functional group that does not share a common taxonomic affiliation. Examples: zooplankton, meiofauna, etc.��
8 Node Type Lifecycle Stage A species has been broken into lifecycle stages, each of which is a discrete node. Example: Blue Mussel adult =Node 90, while Blue Mussel larvae = Node 106.
9 Resolution nominal The lowest taxonomic level to which a Node has been identified.� A node does not have to be keyed out to a specific epithet to be treated as a discrete species.� Higher taxonomic classifications denote higher aggregation in species in a node.
10 Resolution Notes nominal Any notes on node resolution. Example: whether or not a node described as a discrete species is actually suspected of being a cryptic species assemblage.
11 Feeding Feeding The node represents a consumer in the web.
11 Feeding Non-Feeding The respective node does not represent a consumer in the web. This designation applies to detritus, non-parasitic plants and non-feeding metazoan life stages. Example: cercariae.
11 Feeding Autotroph The node converts simple inorganic molecules into complex organic molecules through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
12 Lifestyle Stage Free-Living The node does NOT have a symbiotic relationship with another species.
12 Lifestyle Stage Infectious The node has an obligate parasitic symbiosis with another species.�
12 Lifestyle Stage Commensal The node has a non-trophic symbiosis with another species, usually using the host organism as habitat. Example: trematode metacercariae encysted on a crab carapace.
12 Lifestyle Stage Mutualist The node has a symbiosis with another organism where, on average the fitness of the individuals involved in the symbiosis is greater, than if each is not in the symbiotic relationship.
13 Lifestyle Species Free-Living The species does NOT have a symbiotic relationship with another species.
13 Lifestyle Species Infectious The species has an obligate parasitic symbiosis with another species.
13 Lifestyle Species Commensal The species has a non-trophic symbiosis with another species, usually using the host organism as habitat. Example: trematode metacercariae encysted on a crab carapace.
13 Lifestyle Species Mutualist The species has a symbiosis with another organism where, on average the fitness of the individuals involved in the symbiosis is greater, than if each is not in the symbiotic relationship.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Autotroph A individual that converts simple inorganic molecules into complex organic molecules through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Predator A consumer individual that, within a single lifecycle stage, kills and consumes more than one individual of its prey (resource) species. By killing a resource individual, the individual predator reduces the resource individual's fitness to zero in an intensity-independent manner. Examples: snakes, warblers, clams.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Social Predator A consumer individual that cooperates with one or more conspecifics to kill and consume a single individual of the prey species. Examples: wolves, army ants.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Micropredator A consumer individual that, within a single lifecycle stage, feeds on more than one individual host resource but does not kill that resource individual. Damage to the resource is intensity-dependent, the more micropredators feeding on a resource individual the greater the resource's loss of fitness. Examples: mosquitoes, leafhoppers, most butterfly fishes. Micropredators can be important vectors for pathogens.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Parasitic Castrator A consumer individual blocks the reproduction of its individual host. Thus, while they reduce host fitness to zero, parasitic castrators do not kill their host and often do not reduce the ability of the host to survive. The effect on the host is intensity-independent, in that there is no additive reproductive effect of additional parasitic castrators on the host. Examples: digenean trematodes in first intermediate molluscan hosts, bopyrid isopods, rhizocephalan barnacles, most Strepsiptera.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Pathogen A consumer individual that infects an individual host and then multiplies within that host. Death of the host will ensue unless the infection is limited by host defensive mechanisms or external forces (e.g. other consumers). The effects are intensity-independent, as the outcome may result from a single infectious agent (or inoculum). These consumers are appropriately modeled using microparasite models (Anderson and May, 1979). Examples: smallpox, diphtheria, malaria, lice, scale insects, Gyrodactylus spp.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Macroparasite A consumer individual that infects an individual host, does not cause the death of its host and does not reduce the fitness of its host to zero. Also it cannot be trophically transmissible to other hosts. Impact on the host is�intensity-dependent, These consumers are appropriately modeled using macroparasite models (May and Anderson, 1979). Examples: adult cestodes, Ichthyopthirius ciliates, corn borers, whip worms, fleas and most parasitic copepods.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Pollinator A consumer individual that facilitates the fertilization of a resource individual. The consumer serially interacts with numerous resource individuals and this distinguishes it from symbiotic (durable) mutualisms. Examples: bees, hummingbirds.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Parasitoid A consumer individual that kills only a single host individual. Its impact on the host is intensity-independent. Examples: parasitoid wasps, bacteriophages, bruchid beetle larvae in seeds, insect iridoviruses, pasteurella viruses, nematomorphs. If the host is an adult, reproduction ceases before host death.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Trophically Transmitted Parasitic Castrator An infectious consumer individual that blocks host reproduction and requires that its host to be consumed by an appropriate predator host in order to complete its lifecycle. Trophically transmitted parasitic castrators often modify host to increase trophic transmission to the predator host Examples: Schistocephalus�tapeworm pleroceroid larvae, some microphallid trematode metacercariae in molluscan hosts.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Trophically Transmitted Pathogen An infectious consumer individual that multiplies within a host and requires that the host be consumed by an appropriate predator host to complete its lifecycle. Trophically transmitted pathogens often modify host behavior to increase trophic transmission to the predator host. Examples: multilocular hydatid tapeworm cysts, Toxoplasma�merozoites.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Trophically Transmitted Parasite An infectious consumer that to complete its life cycle requires that its host be consumed by an appropriate predator host. Its effect on the prey host is intensity-dependent. They often modify host behavior to increase trophic transmission to the predator host. Examples: most larval tapeworms, most trematode metacercariae, Guinea worms.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Trophically Transmitted Commensal The symbiont that does not have a trophic interaction with its host but in order to complete its life cycle, the symbiont requires that a predator or micropredator consume its host. In order for the trophic transmission to be successful, the predator or micropredator that consumes the symbiont's host must in turn be a viable host for the symbiont.�
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Detritivore A consumer individual that feeds on or breaks down dead animal and plant matter. Examples: many fungi, dung beetles, vultures.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Symbiotic Mutual A symbiont with a positive interaction with its host. Example: hermatypic corals and zooxanthellae.
14 Consumer Strategy Stage Facultative Micropredation The outcome of a feeding interaction of a facultative micropredator depends on the relative size of the prey or host individual. On a large host the consumer is a micropredator, but on a small prey the consumer is a predator. The relative sizes determining feeding outcomes are system specific (e.g. vampire bats, lampreys, fang blennies). Related terms used in system and taxon-specific contexts include browser, grazer and sublethal predator.
15 System nominal  
16 Habitat Affiliation nominal An unordered enumerated characterization of the habitat zone or type where the organism is found. Example: a bivalve may be in the soft-sediment or benthos.
17 Mobility Low These are generally small benthic invertebrates and small demersal fishes that don�t have large ranges within the system, and likely remain in the system.
17 Mobility Intermediate� These are vagile individuals that likely remain in the system. Example: killifish.
17 Mobility High These are vagile individuals that likely move outside of the system, and thus have trophic links occuring outside the systems. Example: willets.
18 Residency Resident These are species whose distribution does not vary appreciably throughout the year.� Though they might leave a particular habitat type seasonally, individuals do not shift their geographic region seasonally.
18 Residency Migrant These are species whose distribution varies appreciably throughout the year. Example: leaving to breed in a different geographic region for a particular period of the year.
19 Native Native Any organism assumed to have arrived, established and survived in the system without the direct or indirect aid of modern humans.�
19 Native Non-Native An organism that was introduced to the system as an indirect or direct result of anthropogenic activity.
20 Body Size continuous numeric Weight in grams measured directly or estimated
21 Body Size Estimation nomial  
22 Body Size Notes nomial  
23 Body Size N integer Count used to estimate average body size
24 Biomass continuous numeric Product of count density (individuals per ha) and body size.
25 Biomass Estimation nominal  
26 Biomass Notes nominal  
27 Kingdom nominal  
28 Phylum nominal  
29 Subphylum nominal  
30 Superclass nominal  
31 Class nominal  
32 Subclass nominal  
33 Order nominal  
34 Suborder nominal  
35 Infraorder nominal  
36 Superfamily nominal  
37 Family nominal  
38 Genus nominal  
39 Specific Epithet nominal  
40 Subspecies nominal  
41 Node Notes nominal