Stabilising effect of modularity in antagonistic networks depends on intraguild interactions

Abstract

Abstract Existing literature on ecological networks provides valuable insights into the structure-stability relation of antagonistic, mutualistic or competitive systems, but it remains unclear whether these insights also apply to networks that contain a mix of different interaction types. Here, we study the effect of modularity on stability in systems that contain not only antagonistic interactions between two guilds, but also competition, facilitation or even antagonism within each guild, inspired by Ghanaian tree-liana interaction networks. We represent these systems as structured community matrices with random interaction strengths, in which we vary both the modularity within the antagonistic subnetwork and the type of intraguild interactions. Using the eigenvalues of the community matrix to assess stability, we find that modularity in antagonistic interactions generally has a stabilising effect, in line with results on single-interaction type networks. We furthermore find that the magnitude of this effect is modulated by the type of intra-guild interaction under consideration and is largest when these interactions describe facilitation. We explain these findings via a shift in the balance between self-reinforcing and self-damping feedback loops. Our results highlight the need to study how patterns in inter- and intraguild interactions jointly affect ecosystem stability.