PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gianalberto Losapio
AU  - Marcelino de la Cruz
AU  - Adrián Escudero
AU  - Bernhard Schmid
AU  - Christian Schöb
TI  - Positive interactions support the formation of complex spatial networks
AID  - 10.1101/118166
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 118166
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/03/18/118166.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/03/18/118166.full
AB  - Ecosystems are structured by networks of interactions among species, but this hypothesis has rarely been tested in plant communities. Indeed, the structure and functioning of plant interaction networks have remained elusive so far and the mechanisms underlying their origin and maintenance remain unknown. By developing a novel approach that integrates the ecology of plant interactions with network theory and using spatial pattern analysis, we show that plant communities are organised in spatially variable and complex networks. Specifically, we found that positive plant interactions promote the formation and the cohesiveness of large networks. At small spatial scale, where positive mutual interactions prevailed, the network was characterised by a large connected component. With increasing scale, when negative interactions took over, network structure became more hierarchical with many detached components. These findings shade new light on the complex networks of interactions occurring in plant communities.