Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 66: Poster: Stat. Phys. (Gen., Critical Phen., Biol.)

DY 66.1: Poster

Thursday, March 15, 2018, 15:30–18:00, Poster A

Phase transitions in highly diverse ecosystems — •Mattes Heerwagen and Andreas Engel — Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Deutschland

Ecosystems with many different species and resources are complex systems. Much of our understanding of such ecosystems derives from low-dimensional models with just a few interacting species and a small number of different resources. Nevertheless, most real systems are characterized by a high degree of biodiversity. Recently, Tikhonov and Monasson [1] showed with methods from statistical physics that high dimensional ecosystems may exhibit two phases: a ``vulnerable'' one with relatively few survivors and, above a critical degree of biodiversity, a ``shielded'' one in which the competing species cooperate to protect each other from variations in the resource supply and where the number of survivors reaches a maximum. We extend the model of Tikhonov and Monasson to analyse more heterogeneous ecosystems with different types of generalists and specialists. We study the two phases in this more general setting and determine the critical line of the phase transition.

[1] M. Tikhonov and R. Monasson, Collective Phase in Resource Competition in a Highly Diverse Ecosystem, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 048103 (2017)