Fig. 3.

Identifying driver species. For each network, a minimum set of driver species is shown providing a disjoint union of paths (purple) and cycles (green) covering all species nodes (see Supplementary Table 1 for the species name). Thus, the resulting controlled ecological network is structurally accessible. Self-loops are omitted from these networks to improve readability. a Inferred ecological network of the gut microbiota of germ-free mice pre-colonized with a mixture of human commensal bacterial type strains and then infected with C. difficile (species 7), as in ref. ²² b Inferred ecological network of the core microbiota of the sea sponge Ircinia oros, as in ref. ²³