A theoretical approach to understand spatial organization in complex ecologies

Abstract

Predicting the fate of ecologies is a daunting, albeit extremely important, task. As part of this task one needs to develop an understanding of the organization, hierarchies, and correlations among the species forming the ecology. Focusing on complex food networks we present a theoretical method that allows to achieve this understanding. Starting from the adjacency matrix the method derives specific matrices that encode the various inter-species relationships. The full potential of the method is achieved in a spatial setting where one obtains detailed predictions for the emerging space-time patterns. For a variety of cases these theoretical predictions are verified through numerical simulations.

14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of Theoretical Biology

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Cited by in corpus (28)

• Stochastic population dynamics in spatially extended predator-prey systems
• Zealots tame oscillations in the spatial rock-paper-scissors game
• Pattern formations driven by cyclic interactions: a brief review of recent developments
• Imitate or innovate: competition of strategy updating attitudes in spatial social dilemma games
• Biodiversity in models of cyclic dominance is preserved by heterogeneity in site-specific invasion rates
• Predominance of the weakest species in Lotka-Volterra and May-Leonard implementations of the rock-paper-scissors model
• Strategy dependent learning activity in cyclic dominant systems
• The effect of habitats and fitness on species coexistence in systems with cyclic dominance
• Coarsening with non-trivial in-domain dynamics: correlations and interface fluctuations
• Perturbing cyclic predator-prey systems: how a six-species coarsening system with non-trivial in-domain dynamics responds to sudden changes
• Dynamically generated hierarchies in games of competition
• String networks with junctions in competition models
• Invasion controlled pattern formation in a generalized multi-species predator-prey system
• Competition of alliances in a cyclically dominant eight-species population
• Performance of weak species in the simplest generalization of the rock-paper-scissors model to four species
• Phase transitions in dependence of apex predator decaying ratio in a cyclic dominant system
• Weak species in rock-paper-scissors models
• Rock-paper-scissors played within competing domains in predator-prey games
• Breaking unidirectional invasions jeopardizes biodiversity in spatial May-Leonard systems
• Emerging solutions from the battle of defensive alliances
• Environment driven oscillation in an off-lattice May--Leonard model
• Equal partners do better in defensive alliances
• When faster rotation is harmful: the competition of alliances with inner blocking mechanism
• Competition among alliances of different sizes
• Rock-paper-scissors models with a preferred mobility direction
• Oppressed species can form a winning pair in a multi-species ecosystem
• Interface networks in models of competing alliances
• Impact of parity in rock-paper-scissors type models