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Predicting the stability of large structured food webs

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Allesina

    (University of Chicago
    Computation Institute, University of Chicago)

  • Jacopo Grilli

    (Università degli Studi di Padova)

  • György Barabás

    (University of Chicago)

  • Si Tang

    (University of Chicago)

  • Johnatan Aljadeff

    (University of Chicago)

  • Amos Maritan

    (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Abstract

The stability of ecological systems has been a long-standing focus of ecology. Recently, tools from random matrix theory have identified the main drivers of stability in ecological communities whose network structure is random. However, empirical food webs differ greatly from random graphs. For example, their degree distribution is broader, they contain few trophic cycles, and they are almost interval. Here we derive an approximation for the stability of food webs whose structure is generated by the cascade model, in which ‘larger’ species consume ‘smaller’ ones. We predict the stability of these food webs with great accuracy, and our approximation also works well for food webs whose structure is determined empirically or by the niche model. We find that intervality and broad degree distributions tend to stabilize food webs, and that average interaction strength has little influence on stability, compared with the effect of variance and correlation.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Allesina & Jacopo Grilli & György Barabás & Si Tang & Johnatan Aljadeff & Amos Maritan, 2015. "Predicting the stability of large structured food webs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-6, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms8842
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8842
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    Cited by:

    1. Canelas, Joana Viana & Pereira, Henrique Miguel, 2022. "Impacts of land-use intensity on ecosystems stability," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 472(C).
    2. Shiben Zhu & Juken Hong & Teng Wang, 2024. "Horizontal gene transfer is predicted to overcome the diversity limit of competing microbial species," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Yuguang Yang & Katharine Z. Coyte & Kevin R. Foster & Aming Li, 2023. "Reactivity of complex communities can be more important than stability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. György Barabás & Christine Parent & Andrew Kraemer & Frederik Perre & Frederik Laender, 2022. "The evolution of trait variance creates a tension between species diversity and functional diversity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

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