Abstract：
The outcome of many ecological interactions lies somewhere along a continuum between pure positive and pure negative effects. Although the popularity of this idea has notoriously risen in the last decades, with the occurrence of continua in interaction outcomes invoked for a wide variety of interactions, the absence of a precise theoretical treatment has led to considerable inaccuracy and ambiguity in its treatment. We develop here a consumer-resource model to explore the occurrence of continua. This model is based on the assumption that the distribution of individual interaction events includes both negative and positive immediate outcomes, with variable frequencies, for at least one of the interacting species. Our study shows that continua in interaction outcomes happen just by varying the sign and impact of individual events. The exact shape of the continua depends on the proportion of positive versus negative events and the relative magnitude of per-capita interaction strengths. Our model shows that continua in interaction outcomes are a key property of most pairwise interactions and are originated from the variable roles played by the interacting partners. It constitutes a step forward in the paradigm change from discrete categorization of ecological interactions to a new perspective over a continuous space.
摘要：
许多生态相互作用的结果位于纯积极和纯消极影响之间的连续体中。尽管在过去的几十年里，这个想法的受欢迎程度众所周知，随着交互结果的连续性的发生，调用了各种各样的交互，缺乏精确的理论处理导致其处理相当不准确和模糊。我们在这里开发了一个消费者资源模型来探索连续性的发生。该模型基于以下假设：个体相互作用事件的分布包括负面和正面的直接结果，随着频率的变化，对于至少一个相互作用的物种。我们的研究表明，互动结果的连续性仅通过改变单个事件的符号和影响而发生。连续体的确切形状取决于正面事件与负面事件的比例以及人均相互作用强度的相对大小。我们的模型表明，交互结果的连续性是大多数成对交互的关键属性，并且源于交互伙伴所扮演的可变角色。它构成了从生态相互作用的离散分类到连续空间的新视角的范式转变的一步。本文受版权保护。保留所有权利。
