PageRank Algorithm Applied To the Food Web 94
An anonymous reader brings word of a new application for PageRank, Google's link analysis algorithm: monitoring the food web in an ecosystem. A team of researchers found that a modified version of PageRank can predict with great accuracy which species are vital to the existence of others. Quoting:
"Every species is embedded in a complex network of relationships with others. A single extinction can cascade into the loss of seemingly unrelated species. Investigating when this might happen using more conventional methods is complicated, as even in simple ecosystems, the number of combinations exceeds the number of atoms in the universe. So, it would be impossible to try them all. Co-author Dr. Stefano Allesina realized he could apply PageRank to the problem when he stumbled across an article in a journal of applied mathematics describing the Google algorithm. 'First of all, we had to reverse the definition of the algorithm. In PageRank, a web page is important if important pages point to it. In our approach, a species is important if it points to important species.'"
Bioinformatic Algorithm for Standard Americans (Score:1, Funny)
A species is more important if it points to my stomach.
Also see my upcoming research topic:
Bioinformatic Algorithm for Standard Texan-Americans with Retro-Dissonant Suppositions
I expect to prove that BASTARDS are essential to the American way of life.
Re:Why is this surprising? (Score:3, Funny)
I dont get it... what's notable here?
We're finally able to figure out what species will have the most impact if it is removed. Likely, the folks at google are turning this into some sort of biological warfare device - They want to figure out which species of mosquito we have to kill in order to remove all mouth-breathers from the planet, leaving all the hot women alive for the rest of us.
... "
More seriously, if we can figure out which species are most important (and which are least important), doesn't that give both the tree-hugging sea-kittens at PETA more firepower? And doesn't it enable logging companies to say "Well, that species of rat isn't actually important to anything except the animals that live in this forest anyways
Either way, I approve of this message.
Re:Why is this surprising? (Score:5, Funny)
It's remarkable because a biologist discovered math and possibly statistics.
Importance is easy to determine... (Score:3, Funny)
It just isn't a good idea to experiment.
PigeonRank (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why is this surprising? (Score:2, Funny)
Actually the Markov model is prevalent in bioinformatics, as well as other statistical methods. However, the biologists are an entirely different race, typically unfamiliar with advanced mathematics. In fact, the entire field of biology works on foundations and culture so alien to science (fondness for objectivity and modesty) sometimes I wonder whether it is right to call them scientists, or just group them with the social scientists and psychologists.
It's a pity they dominate the big science journals.