Ecological networks: spectral analysis and dynamic response

• Grant number: 06/04682-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2006
• End date: September 14, 2009
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: Marcus Aloizio Martinez de Aguiar
• Grantee: Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Many different systems, physical, ecological and social, can be described by networks, where the system elements are represented by vertices and the interactions between the elements by edges. Networks have become a fundamental concept in understanding the origin, maintainance and fragility of patterns and processes observed in different natural and social systems. In Ecology, the use of networks to describe distinct types of interactions among animals and plants lead to a better understanding of how the biological diversity relates with ecological and evolutionary processes. However, little attention has been given to the understanding of how structure and dynamics relate to each other in ecological networks. In this project we intend to investigate these relations by studying the spectral properties of real and theoretical ecological networks. In a broader context we intend to contribute to one of the most up to date topic to ecological theory: the construction of a theory to describe the structure of plant-animal interactions.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PIRES, MATHIAS M.; KOCH, PAUL L.; FARINA, RICHARD A.; DE AGUIART, MARCUS A. M.; DOS REIS, SERGIO F.; GUIMARAES, JR., PAULO R.. Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v. 282, n. 1814, p. 64-72, SEP 7 2015. (09/54422-8, 06/04682-5)

ALMEIDA-NETO‚ M.; GUIMARAES‚ P.; GUIMARAES JR‚ P.R.; LOYOLA‚ R.D.; ULRICH‚ W.. A consistent metric for nestedness analysis in ecological systems: reconciling concept and measurement. OIKOS, v. 117, n. 8, p. 1227-1239, 2008. (06/04682-5)