title: Modularity and stability in ecological communities.
abstract: Networks composed of distinct, densely connected subsystems are called modular. In ecology, it has been posited that a modular organization of species interactions would benefit the dynamical stability of communities, even though evidence supporting this hypothesis is mixed. Here we study the effect of modularity on the local stability of ecological dynamical systems, by presenting new results in random matrix theory, which are obtained using a quaternionic parameterization of the cavity method. Results show that modularity can have moderate stabilizing effects for particular parameter choices, while anti-modularity can greatly destabilize ecological networks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology &Evolution, University of Chicago. 1101 E. 57th, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8235-5803
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grilli
authors.affiliation: Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath. Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology &Evolution, University of Chicago. 1101 E. 57th, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.|Computation Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.|Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0313-8374
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Allesina
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants