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Table 1. Timeline of research emphasized and hypotheses studied
by the Food Web Dynamics Program and its predecessors |
| Time Period |
Research Emphasis and Hypotheses |
| 1950s - 1960s |
Exploring possible causes of haddock declines |
| • Hypothesized relationship of diet and growth |
| Transition from benthic research program to using fish as benthic
samplers |
| • Emphasis on haddock, other gadids |
| mid-1960s |
Ad hoc diet studies as part of bottom
trawl surveys |
| • Emphasis extended to major (commercially valuable) groundfish |
| late 1960s - early 1970s |
Continued ad hoc sampling |
| • Other species added to sampling priority |
| Multispecies considerations first formalized |
| through 1970s |
Emphasis on characterizing the diets of major
fish species |
| Systematic studies of diet (food habits) adopted as part of bottom
trawl surveys |
| Herring studies with foreign fisheries |
| late 1970s - early 1980s |
Energy budgets |
| Systemwide production models |
| Qualitative ecosystem models |
| Hypothesized recruitment limitation via predation
on larval fish |
| • Emphasis on ichthyoplanktivores |
| mid-1980s |
Hypothesized extension of predation on all fish as a significant
source of mortality |
| • Emphasis on piscivores |
| First attempts to quantify predator-prey
relationships |
| • Consumption rates, species interactions, larval mortality
estimated |
| late 1980s - early 1990s |
Detailed consumption rates and refined diet
estimators |
| Mechanisms for historical changes in fish community composition
from overfishing |
| Refined attempts to assess predation on larval
fish |
| Multispecies models and simulations |
| mid-1990s - late 1990s |
Fish community metrics and properties |
| • Community as an entity |
| Trophodynamic, aggregate biomass, food web
models |
| Ecosystem considerations more explicitly
considered |
| Emphasis on less understood (lower economic
value) species |