IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v220y2009i3p370-382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are network indices robust indicators of food web functioning? A Monte Carlo approach

Author

Listed:
  • Kones, Julius K.
  • Soetaert, Karline
  • van Oevelen, Dick
  • Owino, John O.

Abstract

Indices based on network theory are often used to describe food web functioning. These indices take as input food web flows that are estimated based on merging of (scarce) data with linear inverse methods (LIMs). Due to under sampling, most food webs are highly uncertain and can only be quantified within a specific uncertainty range. The linear inverse method (LIM) can estimate food web flows using a variety of techniques, e.g. the parsimonious or minimum norm (MN) solution, which selects one food web, based on a quadratic minimization technique or the Monte Carlo solution where a finitely many random solutions are generated which are then averaged. We use the Monte Carlo approach (MCA) to estimate the values of several indices from four published food webs, the Gulf of Riga for the autumn, summer and spring seasons, and the Takapoto atoll system. We first show that network indices are much better constrained than the uncertain food webs from which they are calculated. Therefore, even in the face of food web uncertainty, they are robust estimators of food web functioning. We then use the MCA-derived network indices to generate cumulative density functions for each index. These serve to compute the probabilities of the MN indices estimates being an extreme solution as compared to the median values. Our findings show that 82% of the MN solutions are smaller than the MCA solutions, and 63% of the network indices are significantly under-estimated.

Suggested Citation

  • Kones, Julius K. & Soetaert, Karline & van Oevelen, Dick & Owino, John O., 2009. "Are network indices robust indicators of food web functioning? A Monte Carlo approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(3), pages 370-382.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:220:y:2009:i:3:p:370-382
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.10.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380008005024
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.10.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hosack, Geoffrey R. & Eldridge, Peter M., 2009. "Do microbial processes regulate the stability of a coral atoll's enclosed pelagic ecosystem?," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(20), pages 2665-2682.
    2. Schaubroeck, Thomas & Staelens, Jeroen & Verheyen, Kris & Muys, Bart & Dewulf, Jo, 2012. "Improved ecological network analysis for environmental sustainability assessment; a case study on a forest ecosystem," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 144-156.
    3. Borrett, Stuart R. & Moody, James & Edelmann, Achim, 2014. "The rise of Network Ecology: Maps of the topic diversity and scientific collaboration," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 293(C), pages 111-127.
    4. Saint-Béat, B. & Vézina, A.F. & Asmus, R. & Asmus, H. & Niquil, N., 2013. "The mean function provides robustness to linear inverse modelling flow estimation in food webs: A comparison of functions derived from statistics and ecological theories," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 258(C), pages 53-64.
    5. Borrett, Stuart R. & Sheble, Laura & Moody, James & Anway, Evan C., 2018. "Bibliometric review of ecological network analysis: 2010–2016," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 382(C), pages 63-82.
    6. Brunnermeier, M. & Clerc, L. & Scheicher, M., 2013. "Assessing contagion risks in the CDS market," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 17, pages 123-134, April.
    7. Brigolin, D. & Savenkoff, C. & Zucchetta, M. & Pranovi, F. & Franzoi, P. & Torricelli, P. & Pastres, R., 2011. "An inverse model for the analysis of the Venice lagoon food web," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(14), pages 2404-2413.
    8. Daniel Schubert & Alexander Brand, 2022. "“Whom Should I Talk To?”: Role Prescription and Hierarchy Building in Supervised Living Groups," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 295-306.
    9. Clerc, L. & Gabrieli, S. & Kern, S. & El Omari, Y., 2014. "Monitoring the European CDS Market through Networks: Implications for Contagion Risks," Working papers 477, Banque de France.
    10. Taffi, Marianna & Paoletti, Nicola & Liò, Pietro & Pucciarelli, Sandra & Marini, Mauro, 2015. "Bioaccumulation modelling and sensitivity analysis for discovering key players in contaminated food webs: The case study of PCBs in the Adriatic Sea," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 306(C), pages 205-215.
    11. Pacella, Stephen R. & Lebreton, Benoit & Richard, Pierre & Phillips, Donald & DeWitt, Theodore H. & Niquil, Nathalie, 2013. "Incorporation of diet information derived from Bayesian stable isotope mixing models into mass-balanced marine ecosystem models: A case study from the Marennes-Oléron Estuary, France," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 267(C), pages 127-137.
    12. Salas, Andria K. & Borrett, Stuart R., 2011. "Evidence for the dominance of indirect effects in 50 trophic ecosystem networks," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(5), pages 1192-1204.
    13. Pereira, G.C. & Andrade, L.P. & Espíndola, R.P. & Ebecken, N.F.F., 2019. "Ecological networks simulation by fuzzy ecotoxicological rules," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 409(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Guesnet, Vanessa & Lassalle, Géraldine & Chaalali, Aurélie & Kearney, Kelly & Saint-Béat, Blanche & Karimi, Battle & Grami, Boutheina & Tecchio, Samuele & Niquil, Nathalie & Lobry, Jérémy, 2015. "Incorporating food-web parameter uncertainty into Ecopath-derived ecological network indicators," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 313(C), pages 29-40.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:220:y:2009:i:3:p:370-382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.