Multiplex Networks

By nature, ecosystems are composed of many species interacting in different and complex ways. Historically research has been focused on feeding interactions. We contribute to the field by integrating mutualistic interactions in these food webs which have been shown to increase the persistence, productivity, abundance, and temporal stability of mutualist and non-mutualist species in the community. Synthesizing antagonistic and mutualistic interactions is an important step in building the predictive ability of dynamic ecosystem models.