Combination of survival movement strategies in cyclic game systems during an epidemic

Abstract

Disease outbreaks affect many ecosystems threatening species that also fight against other natural enemies. We investigate a cyclic game system with $5$ species, whose organisms outcompete according to the rules of a generalised spatial rock-paper-scissors game, during an epidemic. We study the effects of behavioural movement strategies that allow individuals of one out of the species to move towards areas with a low density of disease vectors and a high concentration of enemies of their enemies. We perform a series of stochastic simulations to discover the impact of self-preservation strategies in pattern formation, calculating the species' spatial autocorrelation functions. Considering organisms with different physical and cognitive abilities, we compute the benefits of each movement tactic to reduce selection and infection risks. Our findings show that the maximum profit in terms of territorial dominance in the cyclic game is achieved if both survival movement strategies are combined, with individuals prioritising social distancing. In the case of an epidemic causing symptomatic illness, the drop in infection risk when organisms identify and avoid disease vectors does not render a rise in the species population because many refuges are disregarded, limiting the benefits of safeguarding against natural enemies. Our results may be helpful to the understanding of the behavioural strategies in ecosystems where organisms adapt to face living conditions changes.

8 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (6)

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• How multiple weak species jeopardise biodiversity in spatial rock-paper-scissors models
• How local antipredator response unbalances the rock-paper-scissors model
• Spatial organisation plasticity reduces disease infection risk in rock-paper-scissors models
• Adaptive survival movement strategy to local epidemic outbreaks in cyclic models
• Ambush strategy enhances organisms' performance in rock-paper-scissors games
• Spatial dynamics of synergistic coinfection in rock-paper-scissors models
• Mobility restrictions in response to local epidemic outbreaks in rock-paper-scissors models
• Locally adaptive aggregation of organisms under death risk in rock-paper-scissors models
• Impact of reproduction-mobility trade-off on biodiversity in rock-paper-scissors models in changing environmental conditions