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
Ecological Networks Across Environmental Gradients
TL;DR: Taking spatial and temporal processes into account can further elucidate network variation and improve predictions of network responses to environmental change.
Journal ArticleDOI
Analysing ecological networks of species interactions.
Eva Delmas,Eva Delmas,Mathilde Besson,Mathilde Besson,Marie-Hélène Brice,Marie-Hélène Brice,Laura A. Burkle,Giulio Valentino Dalla Riva,Marie-Josée Fortin,Dominique Gravel,Dominique Gravel,Paulo R. Guimarães,David H. Hembry,Erica A. Newman,Erica A. Newman,Jens M. Olesen,Mathias M. Pires,Justin D. Yeakel,Justin D. Yeakel,Timothée Poisot,Timothée Poisot +20 more
TL;DR: An overview of tools that can be used to describe and compare the functional and dynamic roles of species based on their position in the network and the organization of their interactions as well as associated new methods to test the significance of these results are described.
Journal ArticleDOI
Inferring biotic interactions from proxies
Ignacio Morales-Castilla,Ignacio Morales-Castilla,Miguel G. Matias,Miguel G. Matias,Miguel G. Matias,Dominique Gravel,Miguel B. Araújo,Miguel B. Araújo,Miguel B. Araújo +8 more
TL;DR: This work proposes a conceptual framework to infer the backbone of biotic interaction networks within regional species pools, and concludes that preliminary descriptions of the web of life can be made by careful integration of data with theory.
Journal ArticleDOI
Complexity and stability of ecological networks: a review of the theory
TL;DR: The use of ecological-network models to study the relationship between complexity and stability of natural ecosystems is the focus of this review, highlighting the theoretical debate and the lack of consensual agreement.
Journal ArticleDOI
Macroevolutionary convergence connects morphological form to ecological function in birds.
Alex L. Pigot,Catherine Sheard,Catherine Sheard,Eliot T. Miller,Tom P. Bregman,Benjamin G. Freeman,Uri Roll,Uri Roll,Nathalie Seddon,Christopher H. Trisos,Christopher H. Trisos,Brian C. Weeks,Joe Tobias,Joe Tobias +13 more
TL;DR: The results establish the minimum dimensionality required for avian functional traits to predict subtle variation in trophic niches and provide a global framework for exploring the origin, function and conservation of bird diversity.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Plant-hummingbird interactions in the West Indies: floral specialisation gradients associated with environment and hummingbird size
Bo Dalsgaard,Bo Dalsgaard,Ana M. Martín González,Jens M. Olesen,Jeff Ollerton,Allan Timmermann,Laila H. Andersen,Adrianne G. Tossas +7 more
TL;DR: Using nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis, it is shown that hummingbird-pollinated plants in the West Indies separate in floral phenotypic space into two gradients—one associated with the abiotic environment and another with hummingbird size, which illustrates that, even within the hummingbirds' pollination flora, pollination syndrome and the degree of specialisation may vary tremendously depending on pollinator morphology and environment.
Book ChapterDOI
Food webs, competition graphs, and the boxicity of ecological phase space
TL;DR: The problem of representing the competition graph as an intersection graph of boxes (k-dimensional rectangles representing ecological niches) in Euclidean k-space is described and the class of graphs which arise as competition graphs of (acyclic) food webs are discussed.
Book ChapterDOI
The Role of Body Size in Complex Food Webs: A Cold Case
Ute Jacob,Aaron Thierry,Ulrich Brose,Wolf Arntz,Sofia Berg,Thomas Brey,Ingo Fetzer,Tomas Jonsson,Katja Mintenbeck,Christian Moellmann,Owen L. Petchey,Jens O. Riede,Jennifer A. Dunne +12 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduced and analyzed the marine food web from the high Antarctic Weddell Sea Shelf to illustrate the role of species traits in relation to network robustness.
Book ChapterDOI
Scaling of Food-Web Properties with Diversity and Complexity Across Ecosystems
Jens O. Riede,Björn C. Rall,Carolin Banašek-Richter,Sergio A. Navarrete,Evie A. Wieters,Mark C. Emmerson,Ute Jacob,Ulrich Brose +7 more
TL;DR: This work analysed the scaling behaviour of 16 topological parameters and found significant power–law scaling relationships with diversity and complexity for most of them, illustrating the lack of universal constants in food-web ecology as a function of diversity or complexity.
Journal ArticleDOI
The signature of phylogenetic constraints on food-web structure
TL;DR: The exploration of the relationship between trophic and taxonomic similarity in food-webs shows that phylogeny and Trophic structure are closely linked, and it is important to understand how evolutionary processes shaping body sizes can affect food-web structure.