Antagonistic Structural Patterns in Complex Networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationships between different organizational patterns in complex networks, revealing that nestedness and modularity are antagonistic, while in-block nestedness bridges the two, impacting network stability.

Contribution

It analytically demonstrates the antagonistic relationship between nestedness and modularity and introduces in-block nestedness as a transitional pattern in complex networks.

Findings

Nestedness provides bounds for modularity.

Nestedness and modularity are antagonistic.

In-block nestedness bridges nested and modular networks.

Abstract

Identifying and explaining the structure of complex networks at different scales has become an important problem across disciplines. At the mesoscale, modular architecture has attracted most of the attention. At the macroscale, other arrangements --e.g. nestedness or core-periphery-- have been studied in parallel, but to a much lesser extent. However, empirical evidence increasingly suggests that characterizing a network with a unique pattern typology may be too simplistic, since a system can integrate properties from distinct organizations at different scales. Here, we explore the relationship between some of those organizational patterns: two at the mesoscale (modularity and in-block nestedness); and one at the macroscale (nestedness). We analytically show that nestedness can be used to provide approximate bounds for modularity, with exact results in an idealized scenario. Specifically, we show that nestedness and modularity are antagonistic. Furthermore, we evince that in-block nestedness provides a parsimonious transition between nested and modular networks, taking properties of both. Far from a mere theoretical exercise, understanding the boundaries that discriminate each architecture is fundamental, to the extent modularity and nestedness are known to place heavy constraints on the stability of several dynamical processes, specially in ecology.