concept

Interdependent networks

Two or more networks where each depends on the other to function — a power grid feeding a computer network that in turn controls the grid. Buldyrev and colleagues showed in 2010 a frightening reality: interdependent networks are far more fragile than either alone, because failure ricochets back and forth between them in a cascading collapse. Worse, a broader degree distribution — which makes a single network *more* robust — makes a coupled pair *more* vulnerable, inverting the usual intuition. Pandora's coupled flora and fauna networks are exactly such a pair.