Detecting tipping points in ecological networks

quantifying resilience in ecology and evolution under global environmental change

Detecting tipping points in ecological networks

December 10, 2014 latest news 0

In this just published paper we develop a framework of detecting tipping points in the context of  mutualistic networks. Under a scenario of global environmental change that might affect species interactions we show how indicators of resilience could provide early warning in complex communities such as those represented by the network of interactions between plants and their animal mutualists. This work is a first step towards quantifying the risk of network collapse and the possibility to monitor community resilience based on best-indicator species.