Summary: LETTER
Network structural properties mediate the stability
of mutualistic communities
Toshinori Okuyama and
J. Nathaniel Holland*
Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology, Rice
University, Houston, TX 77005,
USA
*Correspondence: E-mail:
jholland@rice.edu
Abstract
Key advances are being made on the structures of predator­prey food webs and
competitive communities that enhance their stability, but little attention has been given
to such complexity­stability relationships for mutualistic communities. We show, by way
of theoretical analyses with empirically informed parameters, that structural properties
can alter the stability of mutualistic communities characterized by nonlinear functional
responses among the interacting species. Specifically, community resilience is enhanced
by increasing community size (species diversity) and the number of species interactions
(connectivity), and through strong, symmetric interaction strengths of highly nested

Source: Azevedo, Ricardo - Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston
Holland, J. Nathaniel - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University

Collections: Biology and Medicine; Environmental Sciences and Ecology