Table 1.
Structural pattern in the Caribbean food web
| Module type and ratio | Analysis 1 (86 fish species) |
Analysis II (202 fish species) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observation | Randomized model |
Observation | Randomized model |
|||
| Mean (SD) | P | Mean (SD) | P | |||
| Type I | 691*** | 433 (30) | <0.0001 | 2940*** | 2097 (144) | <0.0001 |
| Type II | 78** | 33 (19) | 0.018 | 351 | 187 (121) | 0.057 |
| Type III | 92*** | 246 (53) | 0.9994 | 727*** | 1223 (156) | 0.9992 |
| Type IV | 119** | 268 (50) | 0.9988 | 867*** | 1373 (148) | 0.9997 |
| Intrinsically persistent modules [Type I + II] | 769*** | 466 (26) | <0.0001 | 3291*** | 2289 (68) | <0.0001 |
| Extrinsically persistent modules [Type II + IV] | 197* | 301 (56) | 0.9676 | 1218** | 1562 (201) | 0.9823 |
| The level of compensation by exterior forces | 2.81*** | 1.70 (0.13) | <0.0001 | 2.18*** | 1.66 (0.11) | <0.0001 |
P is the probability that a random replicate has larger values than the real food web The results are consistent between the two analyses, I and II.
*, P < 0.05 or P > 0.95;
**, P < 0.03 or P > 0.97;
***, P < 0.01 or P > 0.99.