Thinking inside the box: community-level consequences of stage-structured populations

Ecologists have historically represented consumer–resource interactions with boxes and arrows. A key assumption of this conceptualization is that all individuals inside a box are functionally equivalent. Demographic stage structure, however, is a widespread source of heterogeneity inside the boxes. Synthesizing recent studies, we show that stage structure can modify the dynamics of consumer–resource communities owing to stage-related shifts in the nature and strength of interactions that occur within and between populations. As a consequence, stage structure can stabilize consumer–resource dynamics, create possibilities for alternative community states, modify conditions for coexistence of competitors, and alter the strength and direction of trophic cascades. Consideration of stage structure can thus lead to outcomes that are not expected based on unstructured approaches.