Ecological Networks

This book is based on proceedings from a February 2004 Santa Fe Institute workshop. Its contributing chapter authors treat the ecology of predator-prey interactions and food web theory, structure, and dynamics, joining researchers who also work on complex systems and on large nonlinear networks from the points of view of other sub-fields within ecology. Food webs play a central role in the debates on the role of complexity in stability, persistence, and resilience. Better empirical data and the exploding interest in the subject of networks across social, physical, and natural sciences prompted creation of this volume. The book explores the boundaries of what is known of the relationship between structure and dynamics in ecological networks and defines directions for future developments in this field.