Abstract
Abstract: Dominance hierarchies have been visually represented in
several ways, but most leave it difficult to quickly understand complex
interactions between multiple entities in a community. Here we propose a
new way to visually represent the hierarchy of dominance between
entities in such systems called an “agonistic diagram”. We demonstrate
this method using data from nectar-feeding bird communities in Australia
and America, then using data from inquiline ants, European Badgers, and
urban cats. The advantages of using agonistic diagrams are: (1) that the
agonistic diagram can be compared visually with other interaction
diagrams in related fields, like mutualism, and (2) that the analytical
tools used in other fields can be used to assess agonistic networks.
Thus, agonistic networks can be quantified in new ways, making it
possible to obtain with relatively minor changes, automated agonistic
diagrams from the computational programs and ecological metrics that are
currently used to understand mutualistic interactions. This includes
metrics of nestedness, modularity, and robustness, the identity of core
and peripheral species, and the effects of extinction on networks, among
other information.