Journal ArticleDOI
The dimensionality of ecological networks
Anna Eklöf,Ute Jacob,Jason C. Kopp,Jordi Bosch,Rocío Castro-Urgal,Natacha P. Chacoff,Bo Dalsgaard,Claudio de Sassi,Mauro Galetti,Paulo R. Guimarães,Silvia B. Lomáscolo,Silvia B. Lomáscolo,Ana M. Martín González,Marco Aurélio Pizo,Romina Rader,Anselm Rodrigo,Jason M. Tylianakis,Diego P. Vázquez,Diego P. Vázquez,Stefano Allesina +19 more
TLDR
It is shown that accounting for a few traits dramatically improves the understanding of the structure of ecological networks, and matching traits for resources and consumers, for example, fruit size and bill gape, are the most successful combinations.Abstract:
How many dimensions (trait-axes) are required to predict whether two species interact? This unanswered question originated with the idea of ecological niches, and yet bears relevance today for understanding what determines network structure. Here, we analyse a set of 200 ecological networks, including food webs, antagonistic and mutualistic networks, and find that the number of dimensions needed to completely explain all interactions is small ( < 10), with model selection favouring less than five. Using 18 high-quality webs including several species traits, we identify which traits contribute the most to explaining network structure. We show that accounting for a few traits dramatically improves our understanding of the structure of ecological networks. Matching traits for resources and consumers, for example, fruit size and bill gape, are the most successful combinations. These results link ecologically important species attributes to large-scale community structure.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
A new model for ecological networks using species-level traits
TL;DR: The characteristics pollinators seek in plant species may be better anticipated if species interactions are modelled by the functional traits that drive them, and results show that such random effects models can provide good fits to observed data.
Journal ArticleDOI
Similar composition of functional roles in Andean seed-dispersal networks, despite high species and interaction turnover.
D. Matthias Dehling,D. Matthias Dehling,Guadalupe Peralta,Irene M. A. Bender,Pedro G. Blendinger,Katrin Böhning-Gaese,Marcia Muñoz,Eike Lena Neuschulz,Marta Quitián,Francisco Saavedra,Vinicio Santillán,Matthias Schleuning,Daniel B. Stouffer +12 more
TL;DR: The similarity in functional roles despite the high species turnover suggests that the ecological process of seed-dispersal is organized similarly along the Andes, with similar functional roles fulfilled locally by different sets of species.
Journal ArticleDOI
Coevolution by different functional mechanisms modulates the structure and dynamics of antagonistic and mutualistic networks
TL;DR: Adaptive network models are built to explore the potential role of coevolution by two functional mechanisms, trait matching and exploitation barrier, in driving trait evolution and the structure of interaction networks and indicate that coev evolutionary models better reproduce the network structure of antagonisms than those of mutualisms and that different functional mechanisms may favor the persistence of antagonistic and mutualistic interacting assemblages.
Book ChapterDOI
Linking DNA Metabarcoding and Text Mining to Create Network-Based Biomonitoring Tools: A Case Study on Boreal Wetland Macroinvertebrate Communities
Zacchaeus G. Compson,Wendy A. Monk,Colin J. Curry,Dominique Gravel,Alex Bush,Christopher J. O. Baker,Mohammad Sadnan Al Manir,Alexandre Riazanov,Mehrdad Hajibabaei,Shadi Shokralla,Joel F. Gibson,Sonja Stefani,Michael T. G. Wright,Donald J. Baird +13 more
TL;DR: Using DNA-generated, trait-based food webs as a powerful tool for rapid bioassessment is discussed, the limitations of the current approach are assessed, and a path forward is outlined to make this powerful tool more widely available for land managers and conservation biologists.
Integrating network ecology with applied conservation: a synthesis
TL;DR: A framework for network analysis to be harnessed to advance biodiversity conservation by using plant–pollinator networks and islands as model systems is introduced and several network metrics that indicate human-induced changes to plant-pollinator communities are proposed.
References
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Book
Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information-Theoretic Approach
TL;DR: The second edition of this book is unique in that it focuses on methods for making formal statistical inference from all the models in an a priori set (Multi-Model Inference).
Journal ArticleDOI
Toward a metabolic theory of ecology
James H. Brown,James H. Brown,James F. Gillooly,Andrew P. Allen,Van M. Savage,Van M. Savage,Geoffrey B. West,Geoffrey B. West +7 more
TL;DR: This work has developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with body size and temperature, and predicts how metabolic theory predicts how this rate controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere.
Book
Model selection and multimodel inference
TL;DR: The first € price and the £ and $ price are net prices, subject to local VAT, and the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the€(A) includes 10% for Austria.
Book
The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution
TL;DR: Picking up where his influential The Coevolutionary Process left off, John N. Thompson synthesizes the state of a rapidly developing science that integrates approaches from evolutionary ecology, population genetics, phylogeography, systematics, evolutionary biochemistry and physiology, and molecular biology.
Book
Ecological Niches: Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches
TL;DR: Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold argue that the niche is an ideal tool with which to unify disparate research and theoretical approaches in contemporary ecology and develop a framework for understanding niches that is flexible enough to include a variety of small- and large-scale processes.