Scale-free characteristics of the global marine food web

Scale-free characteristics of the global marine food web | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Biological Sciences - Article Scale-free characteristics of the global marine food web Ferenc Jordán, Mingliang Zhou, Xumeng Huo, Yanpeng Cai, Jun Sun, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The scale-free characteristics of marine food webs reflect the network structural interrelationship, which is ecologically important. Nevertheless, the existence of scale-free networks in marine ecosystems has not been thoroughly discussed. Here, we identify the spatial-temporal pattern of scale-free characteristics and explore the correlation between relevant food web parameters at different scale-free levels. Marine food webs around the globe do not strictly exhibit scale-free characteristics in most regions, and only below 5% of the food webs enter the "strongest fit" level of the scale-free network. We also find food webs in the polar regions indicate relatively high goodness of fit to scale-free networks and state a high latitude dominance hypothesis. The upwelling ecosystem related to ocean currents is prone to form a scale-free web, which exhibits periodic scale-free characteristics. The correlation analysis show that intensified human activities and ocean warming both hinder the formation of food webs with scale-free structures. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecological networks Biological sciences/Ecology/Ecological networks Marine food web scale-free characteristic degree distribution spatial pattern marine ecosystem climate change Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supplementarymaterialsNC.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2998429","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Biological Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":205146282,"identity":"43cbf5fb-86e0-47e4-84d6-de71d571fc16","order_by":0,"name":"Ferenc Jordán","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Parma","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ferenc","middleName":"","lastName":"Jordán","suffix":""},{"id":205146283,"identity":"44e245c7-4050-4301-b957-8e0cf300a816","order_by":1,"name":"Mingliang Zhou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Geosciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mingliang","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":205146284,"identity":"5fd23363-2706-4cf7-86c7-975a94ab5163","order_by":2,"name":"Xumeng Huo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Geosciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xumeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Huo","suffix":""},{"id":205146285,"identity":"fe5863fd-8fea-40c3-a22b-342eb1fd73f1","order_by":3,"name":"Yanpeng Cai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangdong University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanpeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Cai","suffix":""},{"id":205146286,"identity":"15ea20da-990a-475e-875f-22e40e580e29","order_by":4,"name":"Jun Sun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Geosciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jun","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""},{"id":205146287,"identity":"dbc8f021-7713-4d95-a538-ba785ca645ce","order_by":5,"name":"Yan Xu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACAwYeNvnHBw58+EGCFjl+hrTEgzN7SLDHWLIhx/gwBxsRSuWjDz+T+FFwJ3HDgTMfDjPwMMjzix3Ar8XwXJqZZI/Bs8QNB3s3HC6wYDCcOTuBgJYeBrMbPAaHEzcc5t1weAYPQ4LBbYJa2L/d/APScoznwWEeNiK0yPPwmN0G2mIs2cPDQJwWAx6e8t8yBofl+CXYDICBLEHYL/I97JsN3/wBmi/B/PjDhx828vzShGw5gMqXwK8cbEsDYTWjYBSMglEw0gEAkIlHYGGgu/IAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8377-3433","institution":"China University of Geosciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-05-30 06:50:46","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":41068047,"identity":"7766f7e6-ca87-4d84-8e1e-c80b192744a4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-08-04 12:00:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1380019,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"paper20scalefreeNC.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2998429/v1_covered_8beaa4ca-aedb-4631-aa5d-f4939072fff5.pdf"},{"id":38460979,"identity":"0498b6a0-8063-4f85-856c-66e25d722027","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2023-06-13 11:30:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1026597,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"supplementarymaterialsNC.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2998429/v1/e48dfc2ab6fd480d7773dbbe.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Scale-free characteristics of the global marine food web","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Marine food web, scale-free characteristic, degree distribution, spatial pattern, marine ecosystem, climate change","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The scale-free characteristics of marine food webs reflect the network structural interrelationship, which is ecologically important. Nevertheless, the existence of scale-free networks in marine ecosystems has not been thoroughly discussed. Here, we identify the spatial-temporal pattern of scale-free characteristics and explore the correlation between relevant food web parameters at different scale-free levels. Marine food webs around the globe do not strictly exhibit scale-free characteristics in most regions, and only below 5% of the food webs enter the \"strongest fit\" level of the scale-free network. We also find food webs in the polar regions indicate relatively high goodness of fit to scale-free networks and state a high latitude dominance hypothesis. The upwelling ecosystem related to ocean currents is prone to form a scale-free web, which exhibits periodic scale-free characteristics. The correlation analysis show that intensified human activities and ocean warming both hinder the formation of food webs with scale-free structures.","manuscriptTitle":"Scale-free characteristics of the global marine food web","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2023-06-13 11:29:57","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2998429/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"fcdb5b17-77f9-471c-9867-07424b81a2b8","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 13th, 2023","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":21939372,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecological networks"},{"id":21939373,"name":"Biological sciences/Ecology/Ecological networks"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2023-08-04T11:52:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2023-06-13 11:29:57","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-2998429","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-2998429","identity":"rs-2998429","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"cBFmMYwuxLRRLfASyISRj","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}