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Environmental change makes robust ecological networks fragile

August 15, 2016

Complex ecological networks appear robust to primary extinctions, possibly due to consumers’ tendency to specialize on dependable (available and persistent) resources. However, modifications to the conditions under which the network has evolved might alter resource dependability. Here, we ask whether adaptation to historical conditions can increase community robustness, and whether such robustness can protect communities from collapse when conditions change. Using artificial life simulations, we first evolved digital consumer-resource networks that we subsequently subjected to rapid environmental change. We then investigated how empirical host–parasite networks would respond to historical, random and expected extinction sequences. In both the cases, networks were far more robust to historical conditions than new ones, suggesting that new environmental challenges, as expected under global change, might collapse otherwise robust natural ecosystems.

Publication Year 2016
Title Environmental change makes robust ecological networks fragile
DOI 10.1038/ncomms12462
Authors Giovanni Strona, Kevin D. Lafferty
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Nature Communications
Index ID 70175490
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Western Ecological Research Center