IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms10245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using food-web theory to conserve ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • E. McDonald-Madden

    (School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland)

  • R. Sabbadin

    (Unité de Mathématiques et Informatique Appliquées, Toulouse)

  • E. T. Game

    (The Nature Conservancy, Conservation Science)

  • P. W. J. Baxter

    (Centre for Applications in Natural Resource Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland
    Present address: Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences School, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland 4000, Australia.)

  • I. Chadès

    (CSIRO, Ecosciences Precinct)

  • H. P. Possingham

    (School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland
    School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland)

Abstract

Food-web theory can be a powerful guide to the management of complex ecosystems. However, we show that indices of species importance common in food-web and network theory can be a poor guide to ecosystem management, resulting in significantly more extinctions than necessary. We use Bayesian Networks and Constrained Combinatorial Optimization to find optimal management strategies for a wide range of real and hypothetical food webs. This Artificial Intelligence approach provides the ability to test the performance of any index for prioritizing species management in a network. While no single network theory index provides an appropriate guide to management for all food webs, a modified version of the Google PageRank algorithm reliably minimizes the chance and severity of negative outcomes. Our analysis shows that by prioritizing ecosystem management based on the network-wide impact of species protection rather than species loss, we can substantially improve conservation outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • E. McDonald-Madden & R. Sabbadin & E. T. Game & P. W. J. Baxter & I. Chadès & H. P. Possingham, 2016. "Using food-web theory to conserve ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms10245
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10245
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms10245?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
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Kamila Svobodova & John R. Owen & Deanna Kemp & Vítězslav Moudrý & Éléonore Lèbre & Martin Stringer & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2022. "Decarbonization, population disruption and resource inventories in the global energy transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Jordán, Ferenc, 2022. "The network perspective: Vertical connections linking organizational levels," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 473(C).
    3. Lim, R.B.H. & Liew, J.H. & Kwik, J.T.B. & Yeo, D.C.J., 2018. "Predicting food web responses to biomanipulation using Bayesian Belief Network: Assessment of accuracy and applicability using in-situ exclosure experiments," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 384(C), pages 308-315.
    4. Endrédi, Anett & Senánszky, Vera & Libralato, Simone & Jordán, Ferenc, 2018. "Food web dynamics in trophic hierarchies," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 368(C), pages 94-103.
    5. Gatmiry, Zohreh S. & Hafezalkotob, Ashkan & Khakzar bafruei, Morteza & Soltani, Roya, 2021. "Food web conservation vs. strategic threats: A security game approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 442(C).
    6. Mao, Zhun & Centanni, Julia & Pommereau, Franck & Stokes, Alexia & Gaucherel, Cédric, 2021. "Maintaining biodiversity promotes the multifunctionality of social-ecological systems: holistic modelling of a mountain system," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms10245. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    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.