Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse
Ecosystems can undergo sudden shifts to undesirable states, but recent studies with simple single-species ecosystems have demonstrated that advance warning can be provided by the slowing down of population dynamics near a tipping point. However, it is unclear how this ‘critical slowing down’ will ma...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2015
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98065 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8018-9701 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 |
| _version_ | 1811069631946817536 |
|---|---|
| author | Sanchez, Alvaro Dai, Lei Gore, Jeff Chen, Andrew I. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Sanchez, Alvaro Dai, Lei Gore, Jeff Chen, Andrew I. |
| author_sort | Sanchez, Alvaro |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Ecosystems can undergo sudden shifts to undesirable states, but recent studies with simple single-species ecosystems have demonstrated that advance warning can be provided by the slowing down of population dynamics near a tipping point. However, it is unclear how this ‘critical slowing down’ will manifest in ecosystems with strong interactions between their components. Here we probe the dynamics of an experimental producer-freeloader ecosystem as it approaches a catastrophic collapse. Surprisingly, the producer population grows in size as the environment deteriorates, highlighting that population size can be a misleading measure of ecosystem stability. By analysing the oscillatory producer-freeloader dynamics for over 100 generations in multiple environmental conditions, we find that the collective ecosystem dynamics slow down as the tipping point is approached. Analysis of the coupled dynamics of interacting populations may therefore be necessary to provide advance warning of collapse in complex communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:13:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98065 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:13:27Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/980652022-09-30T08:22:19Z Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse Sanchez, Alvaro Dai, Lei Gore, Jeff Chen, Andrew I. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Chen, Andrew I. Sanchez, Alvaro Dai, Lei Gore, Jeff Ecosystems can undergo sudden shifts to undesirable states, but recent studies with simple single-species ecosystems have demonstrated that advance warning can be provided by the slowing down of population dynamics near a tipping point. However, it is unclear how this ‘critical slowing down’ will manifest in ecosystems with strong interactions between their components. Here we probe the dynamics of an experimental producer-freeloader ecosystem as it approaches a catastrophic collapse. Surprisingly, the producer population grows in size as the environment deteriorates, highlighting that population size can be a misleading measure of ecosystem stability. By analysing the oscillatory producer-freeloader dynamics for over 100 generations in multiple environmental conditions, we find that the collective ecosystem dynamics slow down as the tipping point is approached. Analysis of the coupled dynamics of interacting populations may therefore be necessary to provide advance warning of collapse in complex communities. Templeton Foundation. Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology (Grant RFP-12-07) National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NIH DP2) National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R00 GM085279-02) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-1055154) Pew Charitable Trusts Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Paul Allen Foundation 2015-08-11T14:23:16Z 2015-08-11T14:23:16Z 2014-05 2013-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-1723 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98065 Chen, Andrew, Alvaro Sanchez, Lei Dai, and Jeff Gore. “Dynamics of a Producer-Freeloader Ecosystem on the Brink of Collapse.” Nat Comms 5 (May 2, 2014). https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8018-9701 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4713 Nature Communications Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group PMC |
| spellingShingle | Sanchez, Alvaro Dai, Lei Gore, Jeff Chen, Andrew I. Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title | Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title_full | Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title_fullStr | Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title_short | Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| title_sort | dynamics of a producer freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98065 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8018-9701 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sanchezalvaro dynamicsofaproducerfreeloaderecosystemonthebrinkofcollapse AT dailei dynamicsofaproducerfreeloaderecosystemonthebrinkofcollapse AT gorejeff dynamicsofaproducerfreeloaderecosystemonthebrinkofcollapse AT chenandrewi dynamicsofaproducerfreeloaderecosystemonthebrinkofcollapse |