Complex interactions can create persistent fluctuations in high-diversity ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: When can ecological interactions drive an entire ecosystem into a persistent non-equilibrium state, where many species populations fluctuate without going to extinction? We show that high-diversity spatially heterogeneous systems can exhibit chaotic dynamics which persist for extremely long times. We develop a theoretical framework, based on dynamical mean-field theory, to quantify the conditions under which these fluctuating states exist, and predict their properties. We uncover parallels with the persistence of externally-perturbed ecosystems, such as the role of perturbation strength, synchrony and correlation time. But uniquely to endogenous fluctuations, these properties arise from the species dynamics themselves, creating feedback loops between perturbation and response. A key result

SUBMITTER: Roy F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7228057 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature