Ecological analysis of world trade

Ecological systems have a high complexity combined with stability and rich biodiversity. The analysis of their properties uses a concept of mutualistic networks and provides a detailed understanding of their features being linked to a high nestedness of these networks. Using the United Nations COMTRADE database we show that a similar ecological analysis gives a valuable description of the world trade: countries and trade products are analogous to plants and pollinators, and the whole trade network is characterized by a high nestedness typical for ecological networks. Our approach provides new mutualistic features of the world trade.

► Ecological analysis of the world trade from UN COMTRADE database is developed.
► It is shown that countries and trade products are analogous to plants and pollinators.
► The whole trade network is characterized by a low nestedness temperature typical for ecological networks.
► The study highlights new mutualistic features of the world trade.