The effects of excess food nutrient content on a tritrophic food chain model in the aquatic ecosystem (Q2308857)

In this study, the authors extended the bitrophic stoichiometric model to the tritrophic case to obtain more realistic food net interactions. The third tropical level consists of larval muscles (fish), which feed only on daphnia. The model tracks two main elements, carbon (as a substitute for biomass) and phosphorus (the limiting nutrient in many aquatic ecosystems) in each species. This is the first study to investigate the effects of excess nutrient content in tritrophic food nets using mathematical models. Our model demonstrates non-intuitive paradoxes (paradox of energy enrichment, paradox of nutrient enrichment). The variable stoichiometry of algae has many effects, direct and indirect, positive and negative, not only on daphnia, but also on the gizzard. Consideration of the third trophic level leads to the existence of chaotic behavior in biologically reasonable ranges of parameters.