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Mercedes Pascual, Jennifer A. Dunne.
Ecological Networks: linking structure to dynamics in food webs.
OUP. 2006

Complex networks of species interactions, such as the consumer-resource relationships characterized by food webs, are ubiquitous in nature. Interactions among species at multiple trophic levels underlie the flow of energy and biomass in ecosystems and mediate the response of species to natural and anthropogenic perturbations such as habitat loss and climate change. Understanding the ecology and mathematics of the structure and dynamics of ecological networks is central to understanding the stability of ecosystems in terms of persistence, resilience, and robustness. While scientists from disciplines including ecology and physics have begun to describe the broad-scale structure of complex ecological networks, few biologically plausible models have been able to simulate the persistent nonlinear dynamics of such networks.

Mercedes Pascual, Jennifer Dunne, and the distinguished contributors to this volume explore the boundaries of what is known of the relationship between structure and dynamics in large ecological networks. Structure is shown both to influence dynamics and to be dynamic, changing in time and space as the result of assembly processes at evolutionary and ecological time scales and plasticity in species interactions.

This volume describes the history and recent advances in ecological network structure research, explores the relationship between structure and dynamics, considers the role of network evolution and adaptation, highlights the importance of an ecological network perspective for conservation, and defines directions for future developments in this field. Going beyond a traditional focus on food webs, this volume considers other types of interactions including pollination and parasitism, and incorporates perspectives from other research areas such as artificial life. The emerging topics discussed in this volume are likely to shape much important research over the next decade in both ecology and the broader arena of network science.