Ecological theory generally and food web theory in particular has traditionally focused its attention on "closed systems?. This creates an obvious catch-twcnty-two: while this simplified approach has been a useful opening gambit in trying to unravel the incredible complexity inherent in ecological systems, it is almost never the case in real life. Therefore, it has often been difficult to apply basic ecological theory to real-world situations, or even to know how to start.
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Robyn K. Whipp (2005) studied this question.