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Mobility promotes and jeopardizes biodiversity in rock-paper-scissors games
Tobias Reichenbach1, Mauro Mobilia, Erwin Frey
1Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC) and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstrasse 37, D-80333 München, Germany.
Nature
|August 31, 2007
Summary
Ecological mobility critically influences biodiversity. High mobility jeopardizes species diversity, while below a threshold, cyclic competition and spatial dispersal maintain biodiversity through spiral wave patterns.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Theoretical Ecology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Biodiversity is crucial for ecological system viability.
- Cyclic, non-hierarchical interactions, like the 'rock-paper-scissors' game, promote species diversity.
- Spatial dispersal of static populations with cyclic competition ensures species coexistence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of population mobility on species diversity in ecological systems.
- To determine the threshold of mobility that impacts biodiversity.
- To explore the formation of patterns in relation to mobility and competition.
Main Methods:
- Modeling cyclic competition using a 'rock-paper-scissors' framework.
- Incorporating spatial dispersal and varying levels of population mobility.
- Analyzing the conditions for species coexistence and pattern formation.
Main Results:
- Mobility exceeding a critical threshold leads to the loss of biodiversity.
- Below this critical threshold, all subpopulations coexist.
- An entanglement of travelling spiral waves forms over time when mobility is below the critical value.
Conclusions:
- Population mobility is a key factor determining biodiversity maintenance.
- The observed phenomenon of spiral wave formation and biodiversity maintenance is robust across different competition details and spatial environments.
- Findings have implications for understanding ecological system dynamics and pattern formation in microbial populations and excitable media.
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