Food web models: a plea for groups.
Open accessAbstract
The concept of a group is ubiquitous in biology. It underlies classifications in evolution and ecology, including those used to describe phylogenetic levels, the habitat and functional roles of organisms in ecosystems. Surprisingly, this concept is not explicitly included in simple models for the structure of food webs, the ecological networks formed by consumer–resource interactions. We present here the simplest possible model based on groups, and show that it performs substantially better than current models at predicting the structure of large food webs. Our group‐based model can be applied to different types of biological and non‐biological networks, and for the first time merges in the same framework two important notions in network theory: that of compartments (sets of highly interacting nodes) and that of roles (sets of nodes that have similar interaction patterns). This model provides a basis to examine the significance of groups in biological networks and to develop more accurate models for ecological network structure. It is especially relevant at a time when a new generation of empirical data is providing increasingly large food webs.
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Compartmentalisation is commonly observed in complex ecological networks and is thought to enhance their stability and persistence.
“a feature commonly observed in complex ecological networks and thought to enhance their stability and persistence”
From A Food Web Model of the Serengeti: Stability, Dynamics and Indirect Effects (2026) · cites this paper as Allesina and Pascual 2009
The Discussion (page not available) says that all food webs analysed had very few densely connected communities and that trophic roles appeared more influential than communities. This runs counter to the claim that compartmentalisation is commonly observed. The paper says the dynamical consequences of compartments can be studied, but does not say they enhance stability or persistence. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe group model, known as a stochastic block model in the statistical literature, was previously treated in a maximum-likelihood framework.
“The group model [12], known as a stochastic block model in the statistical literature [57], was previously treated in a maximum-likelihood framework.”
From Spatial Guilds in the Serengeti Food Web Revealed by a Bayesian Group Model (2011) · cites this paper as [12]
Compartments alone do not account for much of the topological structure in food webs.
“Although compartmental structure may be significant at one scale of analysis, compartments alone do not account for much of the topological structure in food webs.”
From Spatial Guilds in the Serengeti Food Web Revealed by a Bayesian Group Model (2011) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Allesina, S., & Pascual, M.
- Affiliations
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- ORCID
- Pascual, Mercedes
- Venue
- Ecology Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-06-05
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 652-662
- ISSN
- 1461-023X (ISSN-L)
- 1461-0248
- OpenAlex
- W2097186933
- Cited by
- 149
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 7.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Ecology Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Keywords
- food web structure, ecological networks, consumer-resource interactions, compartments, network roles, biological networks
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Animals, Models, Theoretical, Food Chain, Biodiversity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
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