Identifying a common backbone of interactions underlying food webs from different ecosystems

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Network Science
• Theoretical Ecology

Background:

• Empirical food webs exhibit both ecosystem-specific structures and common topological properties.
• Reconciling these contrasting observations requires understanding underlying network organization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the structural similarity of 411 food webs across diverse environments and biomes.
• To test the conjecture of a common interaction backbone and a peripheral layer in ecological networks.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel approach to analyze the structural similarity of ecological networks.
• Comparative analysis of 411 food webs from multiple ecosystems and biomes.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were found in species interactions across different ecosystems.
• Compelling evidence supports the existence of a common interaction backbone underpinning all analyzed food webs.

Conclusions:

• A universal backbone of interactions provides a common substructure to ecological networks.
• Identifying this backbone offers insights into the assembly rules governing ecological communities.