Interesting paper
Compartments in a marine food web associated with phylogeny, body mass, and habitat structure
Ecology Letters (2009) 12(8), 779-788
Enrico L. Rezende, Eva M. Albert, Miguel A. Fortuna, Jordi Bascompte
doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01327.x
Rezende et al. examined network structure in a marine food web (containing 3313 interactions between 249 species/trophic groups!) and unequivocally showed the presence of compartments (or subunits) in this network. These are link-dense regions of the network where species interact more closely with other species within the module than between modules. Modules may may be important for the propagation of disturbance impacts throughout a network. More importantly Rezende et al. identified some potential mechanisms behind this interesting network structure (body size, phylogeny and spatial structure). Shark species played an important role in this network.