The feasibility of equilibria in large ecosystems: A primary but neglected concept in the complexity-stability debate.
PLoS Comput Biol
; 14(2): e1005988, 2018 02.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29420532
ABSTRACT
The consensus that complexity begets stability in ecosystems was challenged in the seventies, a result recently extended to ecologically-inspired networks. The approaches assume the existence of a feasible equilibrium, i.e. with positive abundances. However, this key assumption has not been tested. We provide analytical results complemented by simulations which show that equilibrium feasibility vanishes in species rich systems. This result leaves us in the uncomfortable situation in which the existence of a feasible equilibrium assumed in local stability criteria is far from granted. We extend our analyses by changing interaction structure and intensity, and find that feasibility and stability is warranted irrespective of species richness with weak interactions. Interestingly, we find that the dynamical behaviour of ecologically inspired architectures is very different and richer than that of unstructured systems. Our results suggest that a general understanding of ecosystem dynamics requires focusing on the interplay between interaction strength and network architecture.
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Ecosistema
/
Cadena Alimentaria
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS Comput Biol
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
INFORMATICA MEDICA
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Suiza