Emergence of extreme events in networks of parametrically coupled chaotic populations

We consider a collection of populations modelled by the prototypical chaotic Ricker map, relevant to the population growth of species with non-overlapping generations. The growth parameter of each population patch is influenced by the local mean field of its neighbourhood, and we explore the emergent patterns in such a parametrically coupled network. In particular, we examine the dynamics and distribution of the local populations, as well as the total biomass. Our significant finding is the following: When the range of coupling is sufficiently large, namely, when enough neighbouring populations influence the growth rate of a population, the system yields remarkably large biomass values that are very far from the mean. These extreme events are relatively rare and uncorrelated in time. We also find that at any point in time, exceedingly large population densities emerge in a few patches, analogous to an extreme event in space. Thus, we suggest a new mechanism in coupled chaotic systems that naturally yield extreme events in both time and space.