This
Caribbean coral reef is located in the Puerto Rico
Virgin Islands shelf complex. Fish represent 84% of the taxa in this trophic species web, whereas invertebrates
are under-represented and are less clearly resolved in the food web.
For more information about the Caribbean web, see Optiz 1996. Dunne et
al 2004 presents a formal analysis of the Optiz 1996 data, in a food
web context.
The web
structure in the image is organized vertically, with node color
representing trophic
level. Red nodes
represent basal
species, such as plants and detritus, orange nodes represent
intermediate
species, and yellow nodes represent top species or primary predators.
Links characterize the interaction between two nodes, and the width of
the link attenuates down the trophic cascade (i.e. a link is thicker at
the predator end and thinner at the prey end).
Reference publications:
Optiz, S. 1996. Trophic interactions in Caribbean coral
reefs. ICLARM Tech Rep 43, Manila, Philippines.
Dunne, J.A., R.J. Williams, N.D.
Martinez. 2004. Network structure
and robustness of marine food webs. Marine Ecological Press
Series, vol. 273, pp. 291-302.
