Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Clive Emary
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Although ecological networks are typically constructed based on a single type of interaction, e.g. trophic interactions in a food web, a more complete picture of ecosystem composition and functioning arises from merging networks of multiple interaction types. In this work, we consider tripartite networks constructed by merging two bipartite networks, one mutualistic and one antagonistic. Taking the interactions within each sub-network to be distributed randomly, we consider the stability of the dynamics of the network based on the spectrum of its community matrix. In the asymptotic limit of a large number of species, we show that the spectrum undergoes an eigenvalue phase transition, which leads to an abrupt destabilisation of the network as the ratio of mutualists to antagonists is increased. We also derive results that show how this transition is manifest in networks of finite size, as well as when disorder is introduced in the segregation of the two interaction types. Our random-matrix results will serve as a baseline for understanding the behaviour of merged networks with more realistic structures and/or more detailed dynamics.
Author(s): Emary C, Malchow A-K
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Mathematical Biology
Year: 2022
Volume: 85
Print publication date: 12/08/2022
Online publication date: 12/08/2022
Acceptance date: 05/07/2022
Date deposited: 23/08/2022
ISSN (print): 0303-6812
ISSN (electronic): 1432-1416
Publisher: Springer
URL: . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-022-01783-7
DOI: 10.1007/s00285-022-01783-7
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
