000169214 001__ 169214 000169214 005__ 20260223164759.0 000169214 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1111/ecog.02561 000169214 0248_ $$2sideral$$a99709 000169214 037__ $$aART-2017-99709 000169214 041__ $$aeng 000169214 100__ $$aSaiz, H. 000169214 245__ $$aEvidence of structural balance in spatial ecological networks 000169214 260__ $$c2017 000169214 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted 000169214 5203_ $$aDespite recent advances in applying networks to study ecological systems, most of the network datasets are built attending only to a single type of interaction between nodes, which can be an oversimplification. In the present work, we built ecological networks that had positive and negative links for multiple plant communities based on the local spatial association between species. Then, we evaluated whether those networks were in balance, a hypothesis commonly formulated for real signed graphs but never tested in systems other than social networks. Specifically, we quantified the global and the local structural balance in the networks. We found that plant community networks were more balanced than expected by chance, and that this pattern was due to a large number of balanced triads to the detriment of unbalanced ones. Furthermore, this pattern was consistent among all of the types of the plant communities examined, which suggests that configurations that promote structural balance might be common in ecological signed networks. We also found that almost all networks had some unbalanced components, which might be responsible for the adaptation of the system. Mechanisms behind these structure and possible applications for community ecology are discussed. Our results encourage testing structural balance in other ecological networks to confirm if it is a widespread architecture of natural systems. 000169214 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/317532/EU/Foundational Research on MULTIlevel comPLEX networks and systems/MULTIPLEX$$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/317614/EU/Mathematical framework for multiplex networks/PLEXMATH$$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/FIS2011-25167$$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/FIS2012-38266-C02-01 000169214 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aAll rights reserved$$uhttp://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ 000169214 590__ $$a4.52$$b2017 000169214 591__ $$aBIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION$$b7 / 54 = 0.13$$c2017$$dQ1$$eT1 000169214 591__ $$aECOLOGY$$b22 / 157 = 0.14$$c2017$$dQ1$$eT1 000169214 592__ $$a2.618$$b2017 000169214 593__ $$aEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics$$c2017$$dQ1 000169214 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion 000169214 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0001-5204-1937$$aGómez-Gardeñes, J.$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000169214 700__ $$aNuche, P. 000169214 700__ $$aGirón, A. 000169214 700__ $$aPueyo, Y. 000169214 700__ $$aAlados, C.L. 000169214 7102_ $$12003$$2395$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Física Materia Condensa.$$cÁrea Física Materia Condensada 000169214 773__ $$g40, 6 (2017), 733-741$$pEcography$$tEcography$$x0906-7590 000169214 8564_ $$s1223452$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/169214/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yPostprint 000169214 8564_ $$s1769387$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/169214/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yPostprint 000169214 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:169214$$particulos$$pdriver 000169214 951__ $$a2026-02-23-14:54:39 000169214 980__ $$aARTICLE