Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 1: Evolutionary and Population Dynamics

BP 1.5: Talk

Monday, March 26, 2007, 11:15–11:30, H43

Coexistence versus extinction in cyclic population models — •Tobias Reichenbach, Mauro Mobilia, and Erwin Frey — Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC) and Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstrasse 37, D-80333 München

The maintenance of biodiversity under species coevolution is a central issue in modern theoretical biology. Cyclic dominance of species combined with local interactions of spatially distributed individuals has been identified experimentally as a potential mechanism, see e.g. B. Kerr, M. A. Riley, M. W. Feldman and B. J. M. Bohannan [Nature 418, 171 (2002)]. We address these questions by studying theoretically a “rock-paper-scissors” model of three species that cyclically dominate each other. In the absence of spatial structure, fluctuations arising in finite populations are shown to have a drastic influence on the fate of the species and cause extinction. Arranging the individuals on a two-dimensional lattice and allowing only local interactions dramatically changes the situation. Spatial patterns form and ensure coexistence of all three species.