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(Referência obtida automaticamente do Google Scholar, por meio da informação sobre o financiamento pela FAPESP e o número do processo correspondente, incluída na publicação pelos autores.)

Do Food Web Models Reproduce the Structure of Mutualistic Networks?

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Autor(es):
Pires, Mathias M. [1] ; Prado, Paulo I. [2] ; Guimaraes, Jr., Paulo R. [2]
Número total de Autores: 3
Afiliação do(s) autor(es):
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Programa Pos Grad Ecol, Sao Paulo - Brazil
[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, Sao Paulo - Brazil
Número total de Afiliações: 2
Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
Fonte: PLoS One; v. 6, n. 11, p. e27280, 2011.
Citações Web of Science: 17
Resumo

Background: Simple models inspired by processes shaping consumer-resource interactions have helped to establish the primary processes underlying the organization of food webs, networks of trophic interactions among species. Because other ecological interactions such as mutualisms between plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers are inherently based in consumer-resource relationships we hypothesize that processes shaping food webs should organize mutualistic relationships as well. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a likelihood-based model selection approach to compare the performance of food web models and that of a model designed for mutualisms, in reproducing the structure of networks depicting mutualistic relationships. Our results show that these food web models are able to reproduce the structure of most of the mutualistic networks and even the simplest among the food web models, the cascade model, often reproduce overall structural properties of real mutualistic networks. Conclusions/Significance: Based on our results we hypothesize that processes leading to feeding hierarchy, which is a characteristic shared by all food web models, might be a fundamental aspect in the assembly of mutualisms. These findings suggest that similar underlying ecological processes might be important in organizing different types of interactions. (AU)

Processo FAPESP: 09/54567-6 - Redes troficas do pleistoceno: estrutura e fragilidade
Beneficiário:Mathias Mistretta Pires
Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado