Abstract
The biological requirements for an ecosystem to develop and maintain species diversity are in general unknown. Here we consider a model ecosystem of sessile and mutually excluding organisms competing for space. Competition is controlled by an interaction network with fixed links chosen by a Bernoulli process. New species are introduced in the system at a predefined rate. In the limit of small introduction rates, the system becomes bistable and can undergo a phase transition from a state of low diversity to high diversity. We suggest that isolated patches of metapopulations formed by the collapse of cyclic relations are essential for the transition to the state of high diversity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Physical Review E. Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 011929 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 1063-651X |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Jul 2012 |