World of webs: a collection of the world's food webs by geographic and habitat location: data

Food webs map the flows of energy and materials through ecosystems. In the real world these networks are complex and dynamic, but share patterns across a wide range of systems. The project associated with this data collection seeks to assemble all of the world’s food webs in one database. A major component of the collection has been sourced from the ECOWeB database (Ecologists' Co-Operative Web Bank) originally hosted by Rockefeller University. A significant collection of food webs collected by Ross Thompson are also included. The US National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) has a collection which will be incorporated. The original formats of the food webs are text-based, including spreadsheets and string data. The project also seeks to convert these diverse file formats into a common format. Food webs in the collection have been collected over time, beginning in 1978. The collection will be continuously updated and in 2010, 60-70 food webs were included. Food webs are attached to different geographic, as well as habitat locations providing data on what animals eat and what animals are eaten. Each food web is associated with a publication.