Functional links and robustness in food webs.

摘要: The robustness of ecosystems to species losses is a central question in ecology, given the current pace extinctions and many threatened by human impacts, including habitat destruction climate change. Robustness from perspective secondary has been addressed context food webs consider complex network interactions that underlie responses perturbations. In-silico removal experiments have examined structural properties enhance or hamper losses, with focus on role hubs, most connected species. Here we take different approach connections themselves. We show trophic links can be divided into functional redundant based their contribution robustness. analysis empirical shows hubs are not necessarily important as they may hold links. Furthermore, fraction high constant across systems regardless size interconnectedness. main consequence this scaling pattern ecosystem considerably reduced even when these do result any extinctions. This introduces possibility tipping points collapse ecosystems.