Food web models: a plea for groups
Food web models: a plea for groups
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01321.x
复制
发表时间：
2009-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.8
通讯作者：
Pascual, Mercedes
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Allesina, Stefano;Pascual, Mercedes
群体的概念在生物学中无处不在。它是进化和生态学分类的基础，包括用于描述生态系统中生物体的系统发育水平、栖息地和功能作用的分类。令人惊讶的是，这个概念并没有明确包含在食物网结构的简单模型中，食物网是由消费者-资源相互作用形成的生态网络。我们在这里提出了基于群体的最简单的模型，并表明它在预测大型食物网结构方面比当前模型表现要好得多。我们的基于组的模型可以应用于不同类型的生物和非生物网络，并且首次在同一框架中融合了网络理论中的两个重要概念：隔室（高度交互的节点集）和角色（具有相似交互模式的节点集）。该模型为检验生物网络中群体的重要性以及开发更准确的生态网络结构模型提供了基础。在新一代经验数据提供日益庞大的食物网之际，这一点尤其重要。
The concept of a group is ubiquitous in biology. It underlies classifications in evolution and ecology, including those used to describe phylogenetic levels, the habitat and functional roles of organisms in ecosystems. Surprisingly, this concept is not explicitly included in simple models for the structure of food webs, the ecological networks formed by consumer-resource interactions. We present here the simplest possible model based on groups, and show that it performs substantially better than current models at predicting the structure of large food webs. Our group-based model can be applied to different types of biological and non-biological networks, and for the first time merges in the same framework two important notions in network theory: that of compartments (sets of highly interacting nodes) and that of roles (sets of nodes that have similar interaction patterns). This model provides a basis to examine the significance of groups in biological networks and to develop more accurate models for ecological network structure. It is especially relevant at a time when a new generation of empirical data is providing increasingly large food webs.