Algorithmic reconstruction of trophic networks from open-access species lists reveals key organisms in real ecosystems
Fig 4
Example of a biologically plausible trophic network automatically generated by our algorithm.
(A). Case example: the RAMSAR wetland Orihuela del Tremedal (Spain) whose original species list (N = 110) included un-resolved names. (B). An example (1st replicate) network reveals that simulated trophic interactions are generally consistent with the known lifestyles of the species present in the ecosystem. For illustrative purposes, the silhouettes of representative species of the main trophic levels have been juxtaposed to the network. Node size reflects relative body mass; while colors indicate functional guilds (blue = plants, green = herbivores, orange = carnivores). Notice that some highly specific relationships such as insect-eater plants (circle in the central, lower part of the Figure), are adequately captured by the automated algorithm. This is achieved by introducing a few algorithmic rules devoted to handle these highly specific interactions (see Materials and Methods and SI). Credits: Panel A (left to right): world map from Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com, public domain); map of Spain from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0); original photograph taken by M. Brun-Usan. Panel B: animal silhouettes obtained from OpenClipart (openclipart.org) and released under the CC0 (public domain) dedication.