Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?

<h4>Background</h4>Simple models inspired by processes shaping consumer-resource interactions have helped to establish the primary processes underlying the organization of food webs, networks of trophic interactions among species. Because other ecological interactions such as mutualisms...

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Autores principales:	Mathias M Pires, Paulo I Prado, Paulo R Guimarães
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7da04c58cb3f4f74880295741493b761
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:7da04c58cb3f4f74880295741493b761
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7da04c58cb3f4f74880295741493b7612021-11-18T07:35:06ZDo food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0027280https://doaj.org/article/7da04c58cb3f4f74880295741493b7612011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22073303/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Simple models inspired by processes shaping consumer-resource interactions have helped to establish the primary processes underlying the organization of food webs, networks of trophic interactions among species. Because other ecological interactions such as mutualisms between plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers are inherently based in consumer-resource relationships we hypothesize that processes shaping food webs should organize mutualistic relationships as well.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We used a likelihood-based model selection approach to compare the performance of food web models and that of a model designed for mutualisms, in reproducing the structure of networks depicting mutualistic relationships. Our results show that these food web models are able to reproduce the structure of most of the mutualistic networks and even the simplest among the food web models, the cascade model, often reproduce overall structural properties of real mutualistic networks.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Based on our results we hypothesize that processes leading to feeding hierarchy, which is a characteristic shared by all food web models, might be a fundamental aspect in the assembly of mutualisms. These findings suggest that similar underlying ecological processes might be important in organizing different types of interactions.Mathias M PiresPaulo I PradoPaulo R GuimarãesPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 11, p e27280 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Mathias M Pires Paulo I Prado Paulo R Guimarães Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
description	<h4>Background</h4>Simple models inspired by processes shaping consumer-resource interactions have helped to establish the primary processes underlying the organization of food webs, networks of trophic interactions among species. Because other ecological interactions such as mutualisms between plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers are inherently based in consumer-resource relationships we hypothesize that processes shaping food webs should organize mutualistic relationships as well.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We used a likelihood-based model selection approach to compare the performance of food web models and that of a model designed for mutualisms, in reproducing the structure of networks depicting mutualistic relationships. Our results show that these food web models are able to reproduce the structure of most of the mutualistic networks and even the simplest among the food web models, the cascade model, often reproduce overall structural properties of real mutualistic networks.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Based on our results we hypothesize that processes leading to feeding hierarchy, which is a characteristic shared by all food web models, might be a fundamental aspect in the assembly of mutualisms. These findings suggest that similar underlying ecological processes might be important in organizing different types of interactions.
format	article
author	Mathias M Pires Paulo I Prado Paulo R Guimarães
author_facet	Mathias M Pires Paulo I Prado Paulo R Guimarães
author_sort	Mathias M Pires
title	Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
title_short	Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
title_full	Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
title_fullStr	Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
title_full_unstemmed	Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
title_sort	do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/7da04c58cb3f4f74880295741493b761
work_keys_str_mv	AT mathiasmpires dofoodwebmodelsreproducethestructureofmutualisticnetworks AT pauloiprado dofoodwebmodelsreproducethestructureofmutualisticnetworks AT paulorguimaraes dofoodwebmodelsreproducethestructureofmutualisticnetworks
_version_	1718423230849482752

Do food web models reproduce the structure of mutualistic networks?

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