Regensburg 2004 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 50: Poster Session "Biological Physics"

AKB 50.4: Poster

Freitag, 12. März 2004, 10:30–13:00, B

Modelling long-term evolution of food webs — •Satoshi Uchida and Barbara Drossel — Institut für Festkörperphysik, TU Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 6, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany

The relation between the stability and complexity of ecosystems is much debated in the recent literature. An important theoretical approach to this issue consists in exploring mathematical models of food webs, which are networks constructed by prey-predator relationships in ecosystems. Using computer simulations, we study a model that does not only include Lotka-Volterra type population dynamics, but also a long-term change in the linkage pattern and composition of the foodweb due to species invasions and evolutionary change. We find that the foodweb becomes unstable and collapses after some time. We explain this finding and propose modified (and more realistic) population dynamics, for which the complex foodweb structure persists in time.