Mutualistic interactions among plants and animals have played a paramount role in shaping biodiversity. Yet the majority of studies on mutualistic interactions have involved only a few species, as opposed to broader mutual connections between communities of organisms. Mutualistic Networks is the first book to comprehensively explore this burgeoning field. Integrating different approaches, from the statistical description of network structures to the development of new analytical frameworks, Jordi Bascompte and Pedro Jordano describe the architecture of these mutualistic networks and show their importance for the robustness of biodiversity and the coevolutionary process. Making a case for why we should care about mutualisms and their complex networks, this book offers a new perspective on the study and synthesis of this growing area for ecologists and evolutionary biologists. It will serve as the standard reference for all future work on mutualistic interactions in biological communities.

Mutualistic interactions among plants and animals have played a paramount role in shaping biodiversity. Yet the majority of studies on mutualistic interactions have involved only a few species, as opposed to broader mutual connections between communities of organisms. Mutualistic Networks is the first book to comprehensively explore this burgeoning field. Integrating different approaches, from the statistical description of network structures to the development of new analytical frameworks, Jordi Bascompte and Pedro Jordano describe the architecture of these mutualistic networks and show their importance for the robustness of biodiversity and the coevolutionary process. Making a case for why we should care about mutualisms and their complex networks, this book offers a new perspective on the study and synthesis of this growing area for ecologists and evolutionary biologists. It will serve as the standard reference for all future work on mutualistic interactions in biological communities.

The first synthetic, conceptual overview of mutualism in more than 25 years, edited by the leading figure in the field, identifying the ecological and evolutionary features that unite and divide mutualisms and placing them in clear relation to other pairwise, interspecific interactions.

This book clearly describes the many applications of graph theory to ecological questions, providing instruction and encouragement to researchers.

A profound look at the crisis of work and the collapse of the safety net, and a vision for a better way forward, rooted in America’s cooperative spirit, from the founder of the Freelancers Union “Read this essential book to see how we can and must build the future.”—Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin Mutualism: It’s not capitalism and it’s not socialism. It’s the future. The twentieth century changed every facet of life for American workers: how much they could expect to earn and what they had the right to demand. But by 2027, a majority of Americans—from low-wage service workers to white-collar professionals—won’t be traditional employees. Benefits like paid sick leave, pensions, 401(k)s, disability insurance, and health care will be nearly extinct. To meet the needs of this new generation of workers, the government has done almost nothing. In this book, labor lawyer, former chair of the board of the New York Federal Reserve, and MacArthur “genius” Sara Horowitz brings us a solution to the current crisis of work that’s rooted in the best of American traditions, which she calls mutualism. Horowitz shows how the future of our economic safety net rests on this approach and demonstrates how mutualist organizations have helped us solve common problems in the past and are now quietly driving rural and urban economies alike all over the world, inspired not by for-profit corporations but by labor unions and trade associations, religious organizations and mutual aid societies, and vital social movements from women’s suffrage to civil rights. Mutualism is for anyone who feels that the system is not working for them, and is looking for a new way to build collaboratively, create the new American social contract, and prosper in the twenty-first century.

Networked systems are all around us. The accumulated evidence of systems as complex as a cell cannot be fully understood by studying only their isolated constituents, giving rise to a new area of interest in research OCo the study of complex networks . In a broad sense, biological networks have been one of the most studied networks, and the field has benefited from many important contributions. By understanding and modeling the structure of a biological network, a better perception of its dynamical and functional behavior is to be expected. This unique book compiles the most relevant results and novel insights provided by network theory in the biological sciences, ranging from the structure and dynamics of the brain to cellular and protein networks and to population-level biology. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (61 KB). Contents: Networks at the Cellular Level: The Structural Network Properties of Biological Systems (M Brilli & P Li); Dynamics of Multicellular Synthetic Gene Networks (E Ullner et al.); Boolean Networks in Inference and Dynamic Modeling of Biological Systems at the Molecular and Physiological Level (J Thakar & R Albert); Complexity of Boolean Dynamics in Simple Models of Signaling Networks and in Real Genetic Networks (A D az-Guilera & R ulvarez-Buylla); Geometry and Topology of Folding Landscapes (L Bongini & L Casetti); Elastic Network Models for Biomolecular Dynamics: Theory and Application to Membrane Proteins and Viruses (T R Lezon et al.); Metabolic Networks (M C Palumbo et al.); Brain Networks: The Human Brain Network (O Sporns); Brain Network Analysis from High-Resolution EEG Signals (F De Vico Fallani & F Babiloni); An Optimization Approach to the Structure of the Neuronal layout of C elegans (A Arenas et al.); Cultured Neuronal Networks Express Complex Patterns of Activity and Morphological Memory (N Raichman et al.); Synchrony and Precise Timing in Complex Neural Networks (R-M Memmesheimer & M Timme); Networks at the Individual and Population Levels: Ideas for Moving Beyond Structure to Dynamics of Ecological Networks (D B Stouffer et al.); Evolutionary Models for Simple Biosystems (F Bagnoli); Evolution of Cooperation in Adaptive Social Networks (S Van Segbroeck et al.); From Animal Collectives and Complex Networks to Decentralized Motion Control Strategies (A Buscarino et al.); Interplay of Network State and Topology in Epidemic Dynamics (T Gross). Readership: Advanced undergraduates, graduate students and researchers interested in the study of complex networks in a wide range of biological processes and systems."