E. Burgos, H. Ceva, R. P. J. Perazzo, M. Devoto, D. Medan, M. Zimmermann, A. María Delbue, Why nestedness in mutualistic networks? J. Theor. Biol. 249, 307–313 (2007). doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.07.030pmid:17897679
Nestedness can contribute towards the robustness of a network. If species that share fewer interactions are the first to go extinct, the remaining mutualistic system have a greater chance of survival. The authors also calculate a coefficient as a parameter of a network’s robustness.