Complex Food Webs

This model was created by Neo D. Martinez of San Francisco State University ¹. This is a food web of an aquatic ecosystem, Little Rock Lake. Each node (circles) represents a specific species. For example one node is a leech (top right node), while another node is a small mouth bass (top left node). The links (lines) represent interactions between those species. For example the small mouth bass node has a link to itself because this species is known to be cannibalistic. Each level in the model represents a trophic level, which are specific as well. The first trophic level is mostly phytoplankton and the second trophic level is made up of many zooplankton ². With the help of this model Martinez and his colleagues “found over 95% of species from a variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats were within three links of each other …This means that invasions, extinctions, and biodiversity loss may affect many more species than previously thought, because so few species will be far enough apart not to be affected.” ³

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