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.