IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms12031.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modularity and stability in ecological communities

Author

Listed:
  • Jacopo Grilli

    (University of Chicago)

  • Tim Rogers

    (Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour, University of Bath)

  • Stefano Allesina

    (University of Chicago
    Computation Institute, University of Chicago
    Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), Northwestern University)

Abstract

Networks composed of distinct, densely connected subsystems are called modular. In ecology, it has been posited that a modular organization of species interactions would benefit the dynamical stability of communities, even though evidence supporting this hypothesis is mixed. Here we study the effect of modularity on the local stability of ecological dynamical systems, by presenting new results in random matrix theory, which are obtained using a quaternionic parameterization of the cavity method. Results show that modularity can have moderate stabilizing effects for particular parameter choices, while anti-modularity can greatly destabilize ecological networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacopo Grilli & Tim Rogers & Stefano Allesina, 2016. "Modularity and stability in ecological communities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12031
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12031
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms12031?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. Dongli, Duan & Chengxing, Wu & Yuchen, Zhai & Changchun, Lv & Ning, Wang, 2022. "Coexistence mechanism of alien species and local ecosystem based on network dimensionality reduction method," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. González, Cecilia, 2023. "Evolution of the concept of ecological integrity and its study through networks," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 476(C).
    3. Yuguang Yang & Katharine Z. Coyte & Kevin R. Foster & Aming Li, 2023. "Reactivity of complex communities can be more important than stability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. David William Shanafelt & Michel Loreau, 2018. "Stability trophic cascades in food chains," Post-Print hal-02097236, HAL.
    5. Allahyari, N. & Hosseiny, A. & Abedpour, N. & Jafari, G.R., 2024. "Analyzing the heterogeneous structure of the genes interaction network through the random matrix theory," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 641(C).
    6. Polovnikov, Kirill & Kazakov, Vlad & Syntulsky, Sergey, 2020. "Core–periphery organization of the cryptocurrency market inferred by the modularity operator," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    7. Guy Amit & Amir Bashan, 2023. "Top-down identification of keystone taxa in the microbiome," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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_ncomms12031. 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.