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Self-regulation and the stability of large ecological networks

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1870–1875 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The stability of complex ecological networks depends both on the interactions between species and the direct effects of the species on themselves. These self-effects are known as 'self-regulation' when an increase in a species’ abundance decreases its per-capita growth rate. Sources of self-regulation include intraspecific interference, cannibalism, time-scale separation between consumers and their resources, spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear functional responses coupling predators with their prey. The influence of self-regulation on network stability is understudied and in addition, the empirical estimation of self-effects poses a formidable challenge. Here, we show that empirical food web structures cannot be stabilized unless the majority of species exhibit substantially strong self-regulation. We also derive an analytical formula predicting the effect of self-regulation on network stability with high accuracy and show that even for random networks, as well as networks with a cascade structure, stability requires negative self-effects for a large proportion of species. These results suggest that the aforementioned potential mechanisms of self-regulation are probably more important in contributing to the stability of observed ecological networks than was previously thought.

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Fig. 1: Species self-regulation as an indicator of community stability.
Fig. 2: Two relevant quantities determine the minimum fraction of self-regulating species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Celani, J. Grilli, M. Marsili, T. Rogers and E. Sander for discussions, as well as D. Gravel and C. Guill for their valuable input and thorough reading of earlier versions of the paper. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (#1148867) and United States Department of Education grant P200A150101.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Theoretical Biology, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, SE-58183, Linköping, Sweden

    György Barabás

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    György Barabás, Matthew J. Michalska-Smith & Stefano Allesina

  3. Computation Institute, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Stefano Allesina

  4. Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Stefano Allesina

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Contributions

G.B. wrote the paper and Supplementary Information, performed the analytical calculations and produced the figures. M.J.M.-S. performed the simulations and produced the figures. S.A. performed the simulations. All authors contributed to devising the study and editing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to György Barabás.

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Supplementary Information

Description of all analytical calculations and numerical methods used to obtain the results. Supplementary Figures 1–39, Supplementary Tables 1–3, Supplementary References

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Barabás, G., Michalska-Smith, M.J. & Allesina, S. Self-regulation and the stability of large ecological networks. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1870–1875 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0357-6

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