Work

Complexity-stability relationships in competitive disordered dynamical systems

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Robert May famously used random matrix theory to predict that large, complex systems cannot admit stable fixed points. However, this general conclusion is not always supported by empirical observation: from cells to biomes, biological systems are large, complex, and often stable. In this paper, we revisit May's argument in light of recent developments in both ecology and random matrix theory. We focus on competitive systems, and, using a nonlinear generalization of the competitive Lotka-Volterra model, we show that there are, in fact, two kinds of complexity-stability relationships in disordered dynamical systems: if self-interactions grow faster with density than cross-interactions, complexity is destabilizing; but if cross-interactions grow faster than self-interactions, complexity is stabilizing.

Source: Physical review. E

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.110.054403

Authors: Onofrio Mazzarisi, Matteo Smerlak

Institutions: The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, Capital Fund Management (France)

Language: English

Topic: Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Award: G5560873508