  The analysis of some species-rich, well-defined food webs shows that they
display the so called Small World behavior shared by a number of disparate
complex systems. The three systems analysed (Ythan estuary web, Silwood web and
the Little Rock lake web) have different levels of taxonomic resolution, but
all of them involve high clustering and short path lengths between species.
Additionally, the distribution of connections with fat-tail power law behavior.
These features suggest that communities might be self-organized in such a way
that high homeostasis to perturbations (with short transient times to recovery)
would be at work. The consequences for ecological theory are outlined.
