Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The structure of interactions among organisms in an ecosystem determines how the system as a whole responds to various disturbances, such as extinction or climate change. In this video, I illustrate how different populations of organisms play different roles in an ecosystem, with different dependencies on each other. I use two simplified ecosystems with a general structure similar to one illustrated in Allesina and Pascual, 2009 (doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01321.x). One of the ecosystems has robust interconnections among the members, whereas a more simplified one is more fragile.
(In the video, I mistakenly refer to the model network as one from a pond, whereas it's one associated with a specific plant - the primary producer.)
The structure of interactions among organisms in an ecosystem determines how the system as a whole responds to various disturbances, such as extinction or climate change. In this video, I illustrate how different populations of organisms play different roles in an ecosystem, with different dependencies on each other. I use two simplified ecosystems with a general structure similar to one illustrated in Allesina and Pascual, 2009 (doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01321.x). One of the ecosystems has robust interconnections among the members, whereas a more simplified one is more fragile.
(In the video, I mistakenly refer to the model network as one from a pond, whereas it's one associated with a specific plant - the primary producer.)
