2020/01/15 by Robert S. MacKay, MacKay, R. S., Samuel Johnson +3 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Gene Regulatory Network Analysis #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2001.05173
openalex publication_date 2020/01/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The trophic levels of nodes in directed networks can reveal their functional properties. Moreover, the trophic coherence of a network, defined in terms of trophic levels, is related to properties such as cycle structure, stability and percolation. The standard definition of trophic levels, however, borrowed from ecology, suffers from drawbacks such as requiring source nodes, which limit its applicability. Here we propose a simple new definition of trophic level that can be computed on any directed network. We demonstrate how the method can identify node function in examples including ecosystems, supply chain networks, gene expression, and global language networks. We also explore how trophic levels and coherence relate to other topological properties, such as non-normality and cycle structure, and show that our method reveals the extent to which the edges in a directed network are aligned in a global direction.