2026/05/23 by Frederico Mestre, Vinicius Augusto Galvão Bastazini · 1 voice
Computer Science · Environmental Science · #Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies #Research Data Management Practices #Species Distribution and Climate Change
paper · doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2026.111674
openalex publication_date 2026/05/23 · openalex created_date 2026/05/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Metawebs, regional networks formed by aggregating interactions between the species pool of a given region, are emerging as a rapidly growing modelling framework in biodiversity science. They provide a powerful link between local ecological interactions and broader biogeographic patterns and processes. Furthermore, metawebs allow biodiversity scientists to address how environmental change affects energy and biomass flows within species communities at continental to global scales. Being a fast-moving field of ecology, several relevant challenges remain. At the same time, as global change accelerates, metawebs are likely to become a central tool for uniting ecological interaction theory with broad spatial-temporal scales, informing both fundamental biodiversity research and conservation practice. In this review, we discuss the role of metawebs as an increasingly evolving ecological modelling framework in macroecology and biogeography, outlining their usefulness and applications, shortcomings and challenges and future directions.