Biology, methodology or chance? The degree distributions of bipartite ecological networks.

ABSTRACT: The distribution of the number of links per species, or degree distribution, is widely used as a summary of the topology of complex networks. Degree distributions have been studied in a range of ecological networks, including both mutualistic bipartite networks of plants and pollinators or seed dispersers and antagonistic bipartite networks of plants and their consumers. The shape of a degree distribution, for example whether it follows an exponential or power-law form, is typically taken to be indicative of the processes structuring the network. The skewed degree distributions of bipartite mutualistic and antagonistic networks are usually assumed to show that ecological or co-evolutionary processes constrain the relative numbers of specialists and generalists in the network. I show that a

SUBMITTER: Williams RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3048397 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature