Web of Life
- What is "web-of-life"?
- What can you find?
- How does it work and how can you download the data?
- What is a network ID? What is it for?
- Who is the owner and administers this service?
- Who support this project?
- Who is the author of the data?
- What can you do with the data?
- How can you contribute?
- How to contact us?
www.web-of-life.es is a web service that provides a dataset of ecological interactions.
This web service provides a graphical user interface based on google maps for searching and downloading ecological interaction network matrices of several types, their species names, and other usefull information such as the reference source, the link to the full paper, the geographic localization, etc.
The Map
Over the map you can see the markers (circles) where the networks are located. The color of the markers inticates the type of ecological interaction of the network.
Host-Parasite.
Plant-Ant.
Plant-Herbivore.
Pollination.
Seed-Dispersal.
Matrix Datasheet
If you move the mouse pointer over a marker, a popup box will show some basic information about the network.
If you left click on the marker, the datasheet window of the network will pop up. There, you will find much more information about the network: unique identifier, number of species, number of interactions, full reference link, localization coordinates ... and, of course, the matrix and the name of the species.
The tab species shows a list of the species of the network. You can filter, sort, and download it (see Downloads notes of this section).
You will also find the history records, where all changes will be logged, and graphical representation of the network.
The Menu Bar
On top of the map there is a menu bar:
When the web browser loads the map page, it shows the markers of all networks or a subset of them, depending on the link you clicked of the intro page of the site.
This menu bar allows you filtering the results by selecting:
- Type of networks: Pollination, Seed Dispersal, Food Webs, Host-Parasite, Host-Parasitoid, Plant-Herbivore, Plant-Ant, and Plant-Epiphyte.
- Type of data: binary or weighted.
- Number of species.
- Number of interactions.
Each time you change some option, the dataset will be filtered, showing over the map only the markers of networks that fit with the selection criteria.
If you want to view a list of networks as a result of the filter applied, click on results, this will give you more information.
Clicking on reset will erase the actual filter and will cause showing the entire list of networks and their markers over the map.
The link help shows this help page.
The menu link Donwload of the menu bar allows you downlading the network matricies of the results list. The number between brackets indicates the number of networks are in the results list.
Results
The results list shows the list of networks that fit the selection criteria. This list include basic information about the networks listed: unique identifier (ID), an icon indicating whether there is more than one component, type of interactions, number of species, number of interactions, connectance, and a short reference. This will be useful to find the networks you are searching.
On top, there is a search box for filtering this list. While writing on it, any row with field values fitting the value chosen will be shown on the results, and the rest will be hidden. Keep in mind that this does no mean that hidden rows are deleted from the results, they are only hidden. The number between brackets in the Download link will not change.
At the left of each row there is a checkbox. By default, all rows have it as checked, and it means that the network will be included in the zip file for downloading. You can check/uncheck any checkbox to indicate exactly what you want to include in the download zip file. At the header there is a checkbox for checking or unchecking the full list.
Searching by Species
In addition to filtering criteria, you can find those networks containing specific species.
By clicking on link Search by species, which is located on top right of the networks list, the species list will be shown. All species of all networks of the dataset will be listed on it. Yo can order it by any column name, and also you can filter the listed species by writing in the search text box.
Once you click on the checkbox of any specie the networks list will be filtered, it will only show those networks which fit the selected criteria (type of network, type of data, range of species, range of interactions) and containing the selected specie names.
Note: The panels/windows are draggable for have a better view.
Downloads
Note: if you download a large result set, generating the zip file could take some time. Please, be patient.
You can download networks in three different ways:
- Individually from its data sheet.
- As a zip file containing the results set after filtering.
- As a zip file containing only networks with checked checkboxes.
The data can be donwloaded in theses formats:
- CSV: Comma separated values.
- XLS: Excel spreadsheet format.
- NET: Pajek network format file. Also used by Gephi.
- JSON: data transmission webservice in JavaScript Object Notation.
Individual download format selection:
The options are located on top of the matrix.
Zip file download format selection:
The options are located on menu bar -> Download(n).
The ZIP file
When downloading by clicking the download link at the menu bar, a ZIP file will be dynamically generated. It will contain one file per network in the chosen format, the references of downloaded networks, and a readme file. Also, a log file per network with the history of changes (if exists) will be included in this zip file.
www.web-of-life.es is a service created by Raúl Ortega, Miguel Angel Fortuna, and Jordi Bascompte. It is now maintained by the Bascompte Lab at the University of Zurich, whose research focuses on the structure and dynamics of ecological networks.
This project was initially supported by an ERC's Advanced Grant of the European Union. It is now maintained by employees of the University of Zurich, working in the Bascompte Lab.
The use of this dataset is free, you can use it in your projects and share it with your collaborators.
If you decide to use this dataset in your projects, you must mention this web service:"This work has used the Web of Life dataset (www.web-of-life.es)".
Besides this, we encourage you to cite the authors who collected the data of individual networks: Those references are usually provided by us.
Network Identifier
The network identifier is composed by three strings concatenated by the underscore character.
A_B_C
The string "A" begins with a capital letter indicating the main group to which the network belongs:
Mutualistic: M_
Antagonistic: A_
The string "B" is composed by one or more uppercase letters indicating the type of interaciton of the network:
Mutualistic:
Seed Dispersal: SD_
Pollination: PL_
Plant-Ant: PA_
Plant-Herbivore: PH_
Plant-Epyphit: PE_
Antagonistic:
Food webs: FW_
Host-Parasite: HP_
Host-Parasitoid: HPD_
The string "C" is composed by three numerical digits from 0 to 9. Its value can change from 000 to 999. For a given type of interaction, this number is incremented each time a network is added to the database.
Use
The main purpose of the network identifier is distinguishing any network from each other, using a homogeneous system of reference. Further, we have extended this nomenclature system to non-identified species names, and for specie names with taxonomic errors.
How to contribute
If you have network data that you think could be included in the database, please contact us per e-mail. Moreover, we are happy to be informed about potential mistakes you may spot.
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 8057 Zurich Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)44 635 47 61 Fax: +41 (0)44 635 57 11 Alessandro Vindigni Jordi Bascompte