From food-web structure to interaction strength and community stability: the role of sensory information flow

Theoretical frameworks are essential in ecological studies, as they provide the means to evaluate complex ecological processes and predict future trends by simplifying the core processes within intricate ecosystems. Food webs, composed of species and their trophic interactions, have long been recognized as the central paradigm for understanding ecosystem functioning. By representing the flow of energy and matter that drives ecosystems, food-web modelling serves as a main theoretical tool for predicting ecosystem dynamics and assessing community stability. However, beyond the flow of energy and matter, flow of sensory information - how sensory information is exchanged among species and with their environment – represents another major driver of ecosystem dynamics, as living organisms rarely make uninformed decisions. To advance food-web theory and improve our understanding of community dynamics, I therefore refined two of the fundamental steps in food-web modelling: (I) how to infer food-web structure and (II) how to quantify the strength of trophic interactions by incorporating sensory information flow, thereby enhancing our understanding of ecosystem dynamics. Moreover, (III) I investigated how sensory information flow shapes predator-prey dynamics through modulation of the strength of predatorprey interactions.