ABSTRACT
The traditional perspective of population ecologists has been that predators reduce herbivores numerically, thereby releasing plant communities. Throughout most of the geographic range of longleaf pine, large carnivores, like large herbivores, have been extirpated, and a suite of mesocarnivores, raptors, and snakes are now the dominant predators. Granivores affect longleaf pine ecosystems primarily through seed dispersal. Descriptions of wildlife communities within historical longleaf pine forests are limited to fossil records, accounts of explorers, and current records of species distributions. This chapter suggests that understanding food webs, particularly the direct and indirect effects of predation, can aid in identifying the structural and functional components of longleaf pine ecosystems that are useful in reducing the need for human inputs. It outlines possible management actions by describing the potential for three-level trophic cascades in contemporary longleaf pine ecosystems and comparing those food webs to what existed before European settlement.
