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Stability in Real Food Webs: Weak Links in Long Loops
Anje-Margriet Neutel,1*Johan A. P. Heesterbeek,2Peter C. de Ruiter1
Increasing evidence that the strengths of interactions
among populations in biological communities form patterns that arecrucial for system stability requires clarification of the preciseform
of these patterns, how they come about, and why they influencestability. We show that in real food webs, interaction strengthsare
organized in trophic loops in such a way that long loops containrelatively many weak links. We show and explain mathematicallythat
this patterning enhances stability, because it reduces maximum"loop
weight" and thus reduces the amount of intraspecific interactionneeded for matrix stability. The patterns are brought about bybiomass
pyramids, a feature common to most ecosystems. Incorporationof biomass
pyramids in 104 food-web descriptions reveals thatthe low weight of
the long loops stabilizes complex food webs.Loop-weight analysis could
be a useful tool for exploring thestructure and organization of
complex communities.
1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Utrecht
University, Post Office Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands.
2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Quantitative
Veterinary Epidemiology Group, Utrecht University, Post Office Box
80151, 3508 TD Utrecht, Netherlands.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
a.neutel{at}geog.uu.nl
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