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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
05:28
Quantifying Corticolous Arthropods Using Sticky Traps
Published on: January 19, 2020
Food webs are built up with nested subwebs.
Michio Kondoh1, Satoshi Kato, Yoshikuni Sakato
1Ryukoku University, 1-5 Yokoya, Seta Oe-cho, Otsu, Japan. mkondoh@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp
Ecology
|December 15, 2010
Summary
Nested structure is common in mutualistic networks, but this study finds similar nestedness in food webs. This suggests nestedness may be a widespread ecological pattern, potentially impacting species coexistence.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Network Theory
- Community Ecology
Background:
- Nested structure is a common feature in mutualistic interaction networks.
- Its prevalence in other network types, like food webs, remains largely unexplored.
- Antagonistic interactions were hypothesized to disfavor nestedness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of nested structure in food webs.
- To test whether nestedness is exclusive to mutualistic communities.
- To explore the implications of nested food webs for species coexistence.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 31 published food web datasets.
- Evaluation of nestedness patterns within bipartite subwebs.
- Comparison of nestedness levels between food webs and mutualistic networks.
Main Results:
- The analyzed food webs exhibited high levels of nestedness, comparable to mutualistic networks.
- Nested structure was found to be prevalent in communities with resource-consumer interactions.
- Nested food webs were associated with increased niche overlap among consumers.
Conclusions:
- Nestedness is not exclusive to mutualistic communities and is common in food webs.
- Antagonistic interactions do not preclude nested structure.
- Nested food webs may limit consumer species coexistence, contrary to mutualistic network hypotheses.
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