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Feeding network of plants, mammals and pathogens in the Serengeti
Andy Dobson (fac) and Jennifer Dunne (SFI)
Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Santa Fe Institute
This image illustrates the predator/prey (consumer-resource) relationships that tie together the plants, mammals and some of their pathogens in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania.

The matrix that underlies the web was assembled from detailed reviews of 50 years of research in Serengeti. The realization was achieved through a long-term collaboration between Dobson and Dunne on the structure of food webs. Mathematical analysis of the web's properties suggest the structure is not random but instead characterized by sets of nested relationships with specialized fast connections and hierarchical sets of nested and increasingly slower and less specific feeding relationships.

It is an example of the structure of those parts of the universe in which humans evolved and an example of the webs that ultimately all life on earth depends.