Trophic groups and modules: two levels of group detection in food webs.

ABSTRACT: Within food webs, species can be partitioned into groups according to various criteria. Two notions have received particular attention: trophic groups (TGs), which have been used for decades in the ecological literature, and more recently, modules. The relationship between these two group concepts remains unknown in empirical food webs. While recent developments in network theory have led to efficient methods for detecting modules in food webs, the determination of TGs (groups of species that are functionally similar) is largely based on subjective expert knowledge. We develop a novel algorithm for TG detection. We apply this method to empirical food webs and show that aggregation into TGs allows for the simplification of food webs while preserving their information content. Furthermore, w

SUBMITTER: Gauzens B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4424665 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature