Nonequilibrium coexistence in a competition model with nutrient storage.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Theoretical Ecology
• Mathematical Biology

Background:

• Resource competition theory posits species number is limited by resources.
• Existing models often lack realistic assumptions about organismal resource storage.
• Resource storage can decouple organismal growth from external resource fluctuations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of resource storage on ecological competition dynamics.
• To extend the Droop model for resource storage to multi-species, multi-resource systems.
• To explore how storage affects species coexistence and community dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Extension of the Droop model to incorporate resource storage in a multi-species, multi-resource context.
• Analysis of model dynamics, including equilibrium, oscillations, and chaos.
• Comparison of dynamics with and without resource storage.

Main Results:

• The extended Droop model exhibits complex dynamics similar to models without storage.
• Non-equilibrium dynamics, facilitated by resource storage, allow for many species to coexist on few resources.
• Observed dynamics include competitive exclusion, stable coexistence, periodic and non-periodic oscillations, and chaos.

Conclusions:

• Resource storage does not fundamentally alter the potential for complex dynamics in competition models.
• Non-equilibrium dynamics driven by storage are crucial for understanding multi-species coexistence on limited resources.
• Findings highlight the importance of luxury consumption, competitive trade-offs, and ecological stoichiometry in resource competition.