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Revisiting Paine’s 1966 sea star removal experiment, the most-cited empirical article in the American Naturalist

Kevin D. Lafferty·Tom Suchanek
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Abstract

“Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” (Paine 1966) is the most-cited empirical article published in the American Naturalist . In short, Paine removed predatory sea stars ( Pisaster ochraceus ) from the rocky intertidal and watched the key prey species, mussels ( Mytilus californianus ), crowd out seven subordinate primary space-holding species. However, because these mussels are a foundational species, they provide three-dimensional habitat for over 300 associated species inhabiting the mussel beds; thus, removing sea stars significantly increases community-wide diversity. In any case, most ecologists cite Paine (1966) to support a statement that predators increase diversity by interfering with competition. Although detractors remained skeptical of top-down effects and keystone concepts, the paradigm that predation increases diversity spread. By 1991, “Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” was considered a classic ecological paper, and after 50 years it continues to influence ecological theory and conservation biology.

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Kevin D. Lafferty, Tom Suchanek. 2016. Revisiting Paine’s 1966 sea star removal experiment, the most-cited empirical article in the American Naturalist. https://doi.org/10.1086/688045

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