Algorithmic reconstruction of trophic networks from open-access species lists reveals key organisms in real ecosystems
Fig 3
Representative two-dimensional projections of the multivariate network space defined by the quantitative descriptors summarized in Box 1.
Each point corresponds to one automatically generated network (one ecosystem × one replicate). When available, data (represented as empty black circles) corresponding to empirically measured properties of real food webs (mainly from refs. [29,32]) are also shown for comparison. (A) In-degree/out-degree asymmetry vs. absolute deviation in vulnerability relative to the pure allometric niche model (denoted by the M superscript). (B) Network connectivity vs. absolute deviation in total degree relative to the pure niche model. (C) Species richness vs. maximum number of trophic interactions involving a single species. (D) Species richness vs. absolute deviation in generality relative to the pure niche model. (E) Species richness vs. network connectivity. (F) Species richness vs. average number of trophic links per species. (G) Species richness vs. network nestedness. (H) Species richness vs. number of distinct trophic chains in the network. In panels A and B, colors encode species richness (N) for the corresponding network. In panels C-H, colors are used to identify the ecosystem of origin (from 1 to 160) to visually group replicates belonging to the same site.