title: Comment on "Asymmetric coevolutionary networks facilitate biodiversity maintenance".
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
authors.forename: J Nathaniel
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.forename: Donald L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: DeAngelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D011058:Pollen; D013559:Symbiosis