Harnessing tipping points in complex ecological networks.

ABSTRACT: Complex and nonlinear ecological networks can exhibit a tipping point at which a transition to a global extinction state occurs. Using real-world mutualistic networks of pollinators and plants as prototypical systems and taking into account biological constraints, we develop an ecologically feasible strategy to manage/control the tipping point by maintaining the abundance of a particular pollinator species at a constant level, which essentially removes the hysteresis associated with a tipping point. If conditions are changing so as to approach a tipping point, the management strategy we describe can prevent sudden drastic changes. Additionally, if the system has already moved past a tipping point, we show that a full recovery can occur for reasonable parameter changes only if there is acti

SUBMITTER: Jiang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6769319 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature