Table 1 Definitions of network terminology and metrics used in this study

Poultry sources

1) “Farm upazila”: An upazila (third administrative division) in which farms supplied a trader in a surveyed LBM. Exact names and locations of farms were unknown, they were therefore grouped into so-called “farm upazilas”.

2) A LBM (each LBM was an independent location).

Network node

A surveyed LBMs, a “farm upazila” or a non-surveyed LBM.

Network arc

Link between 2 nodes, weighted with the number of poultry traded between the considered sources and destinations.

Giant weak Component (GWC)

The largest subset of nodes in which all the nodes were connected, regardless of the direction of the arcs.

Giant Strong Component (GSC)

The largest subset of nodes in which all the nodes were connected, accounting for the direction of the arcs.

Connectedness of the network

The proportion of nodes included in the GWC [30].

Normalised betweenness-centrality

The proportion of shortest paths (i.e. geodesic distances) on which a given node lies.

Geodesic distances

Shortest path between two nodes, with the distance being calculated as the sum of the inverse of the arc strengths [64].

Input domain

Proportion of the nodes that can reach a node following network arcs.

Output domain

Proportion of the nodes that can be reached by a node following network arcs.