Connectance in real biotic communities and critical values for stability of model ecosystems
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TL;DR
The first extensive empirical data on the relationship between connectance (defined as the fraction of the pairs of species which directly interact) and species richness in biological communities are presented.
Abstract
BIOLOGICAL communities differ in the number of species that they contain; in the number of interactions between species (primarily feeding and competitive relationships); and in the intensity of their interactions. We present here the first extensive empirical data on the relationship between connectance (defined as the fraction of the pairs of species which directly interact1,2) and species richness in biological communities. Our results show that connectance may decline considerably as the number of species increases.