Publication Date:
2014-07-26
Description:
In theoretical ecology, traditional studies based on dynamical stability and numerical simulations have not found a unified answer to the effect of network architecture on community persistence. Here, we introduce a mathematical framework based on the concept of structural stability to explain such a disparity of results. We investigated the range of conditions necessary for the stable coexistence of all species in mutualistic systems. We show that the apparently contradictory conclusions reached by previous studies arise as a consequence of overseeing either the necessary conditions for persistence or its dependence on model parameterization. We show that observed network architectures maximize the range of conditions for species coexistence. We discuss the applicability of structural stability to study other types of interspecific interactions.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rohr, Rudolf P -- Saavedra, Serguei -- Bascompte, Jordi -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jul 25;345(6195):1253497. doi: 10.1126/science.1253497.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Integrative Ecology Group, Estacion Biologica de Donana-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (EBD-CSIC), Calle Americo Vespucio s/n, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain. Unit of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musee 10, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. ; Integrative Ecology Group, Estacion Biologica de Donana-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (EBD-CSIC), Calle Americo Vespucio s/n, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain. ; Integrative Ecology Group, Estacion Biologica de Donana-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (EBD-CSIC), Calle Americo Vespucio s/n, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain. bascompte@ebd.csic.es.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25061214" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Computer Simulation
;
*Ecosystem
;
*Models, Biological
;
Plants
;
*Symbiosis
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
