The central theme of my work is the understanding of the relation between the structure and stability of ecosystems. With observations of the feeding relations in soil communities, we have parameterised the strength of the interactions in these ecological networks, showing a remarkable stability of the communities. We have introduced the concept Loop Weight, explaining the stability through quantifying the feedback loops in the systems. In natural succession series (gradients of ecosystem development) we have shown how trophic pyramids preserve stability in the assembly of communities. Recently, we have proposed a feedback metric, as an alternative for Robert May’s complexity metric (May 1972), for predator-prey networks. We have made a significant step in empirical underpinning and theoretical explanation of ecosystem stability by showing how the behaviour of food webs is governed by functional relationships and not by general network-topological properties.
Key Publications:
For the full publication list, see my google scholar page.
Neutel, A., Heesterbeek, J., Van De Koppel, J., Hoenderboom, G., Vos, A., Kaldeway, C., Berendese, F., & De Ruiter, P. (2016). Soil food webs, Successions – Jacobian Matrices (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Polar Data Centre; British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council; Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.. https://doi.org/10.5285/1acea44e-44da-4225-8e98-203d742a0a82
De Ruiter, P., Neutel, A., & Moore, J. (2016). Soil food webs, agro and native – Jacobian matrices (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Polar Data Centre; British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council; Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.. https://doi.org/10.5285/7b6dd454-d248-4264-b8a0-2de07a8dc882
Neutel, A., & Thorne, M. (2016). Antarctic food webs – Jacobian matrices (Version 1.0) [Data set]. Polar Data Centre; British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council; Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.. https://doi.org/10.5285/1d1e4253-552a-421e-9bdc-20d70f683cc5
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TED Ed – Lessons Worth Sharing: feedback loops in nature