Lisa Nicvert
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lisanicvert.bsky.social
Lisa Nicvert
@lisanicvert.bsky.social
Postdoctoral researcher in ecology at FRB-Cesab @frbiodiv.bsky.social (she/her) | Data analysis 📊 | Dragonflies enthusiast | African ecology 🐘🦒🦓 | #camtrap 📸 | #SciComm 🌌
https://lisanicvert.github.io/
Also, you can read this post which describes our findings! bsky.app/profile/lisa...
Is it possible to infer trait matching in ecological networks, even when no trait information is available? In our new article, just recommended by Timothée Poisot (@ctrlalttim.com) for PCI Ecology, we suggest that it is possible! Read the recommendation here: doi.org/10.24072/pci... 🌐 (1/6)
Moving functional network ecology forward (without traits)
doi.org
July 18, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Many thanks to PCI (@peercommunityin.bsky.social) Ecology for a smooth revision process, and to the reviewers @ibartomeus.bsky.social and Pedro Henrique Pereira Braga. Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1101/2024... (to be published in Peer Community Journal soon) (6/6)
Trait matching without traits: using correspondence analysis to investigate the latent structure of interaction networks
Species interactions in ecological communities are often represented as networks, the structure of which is thought to be linked to species' interaction niches (or Eltonian niches). Interaction niches are intimately related to the notion of trait matching, which posits that a species interacts preferentially with partners whose traits are complementary to their own. Multivariate methods are commonly used to quantify species environmental niches (or Grinnellian niches). More recently, some of these methods have also been used to study the interaction niche, but they consider only the niche optimum and require trait data. In this article, we use the correspondence analysis (CA) framework to study interaction networks and investigate trait matching without requiring trait data, using the notion of latent traits. We use reciprocal scaling, a method related to CA, to estimate niche optima and breadths, defined respectively as the mean and standard deviation of the latent traits of species' interacting partners. We present the method, test its performance using a simulation model we designed, and analyze a real frugivory network between birds and plants. The simulation study shows that the method is able to recover niche breadths and optima for data generated with parameters typical of ecological networks. The birds-plants network analysis shows strong relationships between species latent traits and niche breadths: a posteriori correlation with measured traits suggests that birds and plants of intermediate size tend to have the broadest niches. Additionally, birds preferentially foraging in the understory have broader niches than birds preferentially foraging in the canopy. CA and reciprocal scaling are described as fruitful exploratory methods to characterize species interaction profiles, provide an ecologically meaningful graphical representation of interaction niches, and explore the effect of latent traits on network structure. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR-18-CE02-0010 (project EcoNet)
doi.org
July 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Of course, a latent approach means that the results can sometimes be difficult to interpret, and conflate different characteristics of species which are not generally considered as "traits". But I still think CA and reciprocal scaling are interesting approaches to analyze interaction networks. (5/6)
July 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM
We also find out that the axes are fairly related to some species' traits thought to be related to trait matching: beak width and fruit diameter, body mass and crop mass, and Kipp's index and plant height. This suggests that this latent trait approach captures known trait matching patterns! (4/6)
July 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM
We use a simulation approach to test the method, and illustrate it on a bird-plant frugivory network. Below are species' niches in the multivariate space for birds and plant species interacting in this network. (3/6)
July 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM
In this article, we relate the interaction niche to trait matching. For that, we use reciprocal scaling, a method related to correspondence analysis, which allows to represent species' niches in the multivariate space and where the multivariate axes can be interpreted as latent traits. (2/6)
July 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM