Predator-prey interactions

Paine studied food webs of rocky shores in North America. In particular, he was interested in predator-prey interactions and carried out removal experiments to assess how species removal affected community structure. One species in particular appeared to have an outsized effect on the community - Pisaster ochraceus, a carnivorous starfish. In the subweb containing Pisaster and its food items, the numbers represent the fraction of food items in terms of number of food items and in terms of consumed calories (Figure 1). We will demonstrate the flexibility of Neo4j by discussing several strategies for writing Paine’s subweb to a Neo4j database.

Paine's food web showing predator-prey interactions for Pisaster and its prey.
Figure 1: Paine's foodweb showing predator-prey interactions for Pisaster and its prey.