Comment on "Asymmetric coevolutionary networks facilitate biodiversity maintenance"

Science. 2006 Sep 29;313(5795):1887; author reply 1887. doi: 10.1126/science.1129547.

Abstract

Bascompte et al. (Reports, 21 April 2006, p. 431) used network asymmetries to explain mathematical conditions necessary for stability in historic models of mutualism. The Lotka-Volterra equations they used artificially created conditions in which some factor, such as asymmetric interaction strengths, is necessary for community coexistence. We show that a more realistic model incorporating nonlinear functional responses requires no such condition and is consistent with their data.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biodiversity*
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Mathematics
  • Models, Biological
  • Nonlinear Dynamics
  • Plant Physiological Phenomena*
  • Pollen
  • Symbiosis*