SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks
Quantifying the complexity of ecological networks has remained elusive. Primarily, complexity has been defined on the basis of the structural (or behavioural) complexity of the system. These definitions ignore the notion of “physical complexity,” which can measure the amount of information contained...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.623141/full |
| _version_ | 1818609382873628672 |
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| author | Tanya Strydom Tanya Strydom Giulio V. Dalla Riva Timothée Poisot Timothée Poisot |
| author_facet | Tanya Strydom Tanya Strydom Giulio V. Dalla Riva Timothée Poisot Timothée Poisot |
| author_sort | Tanya Strydom |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Quantifying the complexity of ecological networks has remained elusive. Primarily, complexity has been defined on the basis of the structural (or behavioural) complexity of the system. These definitions ignore the notion of “physical complexity,” which can measure the amount of information contained in an ecological network, and how difficult it would be to compress. We present relative rank deficiency and SVD entropy as measures of “external” and “internal” complexity, respectively. Using bipartite ecological networks, we find that they all show a very high, almost maximal, physical complexity. Pollination networks, in particular, are more complex when compared to other types of interactions. In addition, we find that SVD entropy relates to other structural measures of complexity (nestedness, connectance, and spectral radius), but does not inform about the resilience of a network when using simulated extinction cascades, which has previously been reported for structural measures of complexity. We argue that SVD entropy provides a fundamentally more “correct” measure of network complexity and should be added to the toolkit of descriptors of ecological networks moving forward. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T14:57:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0a0134c1e7064d1da921f12511b68ee0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T14:57:40Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-0a0134c1e7064d1da921f12511b68ee02022-12-21T22:27:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2021-06-01910.3389/fevo.2021.623141623141SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological NetworksTanya Strydom0Tanya Strydom1Giulio V. Dalla Riva2Timothée Poisot3Timothée Poisot4Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaQuébec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montreal, QC, CanadaSchool of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New ZealandDépartement de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaQuébec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montreal, QC, CanadaQuantifying the complexity of ecological networks has remained elusive. Primarily, complexity has been defined on the basis of the structural (or behavioural) complexity of the system. These definitions ignore the notion of “physical complexity,” which can measure the amount of information contained in an ecological network, and how difficult it would be to compress. We present relative rank deficiency and SVD entropy as measures of “external” and “internal” complexity, respectively. Using bipartite ecological networks, we find that they all show a very high, almost maximal, physical complexity. Pollination networks, in particular, are more complex when compared to other types of interactions. In addition, we find that SVD entropy relates to other structural measures of complexity (nestedness, connectance, and spectral radius), but does not inform about the resilience of a network when using simulated extinction cascades, which has previously been reported for structural measures of complexity. We argue that SVD entropy provides a fundamentally more “correct” measure of network complexity and should be added to the toolkit of descriptors of ecological networks moving forward.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.623141/fullsingular value decompositionphysical complexitybipartite networkentropypollinationecological network analysis |
| spellingShingle | Tanya Strydom Tanya Strydom Giulio V. Dalla Riva Timothée Poisot Timothée Poisot SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution singular value decomposition physical complexity bipartite network entropy pollination ecological network analysis |
| title | SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks |
| title_full | SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks |
| title_fullStr | SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks |
| title_short | SVD Entropy Reveals the High Complexity of Ecological Networks |
| title_sort | svd entropy reveals the high complexity of ecological networks |
| topic | singular value decomposition physical complexity bipartite network entropy pollination ecological network analysis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.623141/full |
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