A resource-based game theoretical approach for the paradox of the plankton.

Weini Huang,Viviane Moraes De Oliveira,Fernando Fagundes Ferrreira,Paulo Roberto De Araujo Campos

doi:10.7717/peerj.2329

Abstract

The maintenance of species diversity is a central focus in ecology. It is not rare to observe more species than the number of limiting resources, especially in plankton communities. However, such high species diversity is hard to achieve in theory under the competitive exclusion principles, known as the plankton paradox. Previous studies often focus on the coexistence of predefined species and ignore the fact that species can evolve. We model multi-resource competitions using evolutionary games, where the number of species fluctuates under extinction and the appearance of new species. The interspecific and intraspecific competitions are captured by a dynamical payoff matrix, which has a size of the number of species. The competition strength (payoff entries) is obtained from comparing the capability of species in consuming resources, which can change over time. This allows for the robust coexistence of a large number of species, providing a possible solution to the plankton paradox.

Highlights

Species coexistence under ecological competition has been long debated in ecology (May & Angela, 2007)
A fundamental question is how it is possible to observe so many species coexisting as few limiting resources are available. This pattern is not rare in natural communities, being the best example the observed species diversity of algae communities with two or three limiting resources in relatively homogenous environment. This contradicts the predictions made by several theoretical models which conclude that no more species can coexist compared to the number of limiting resources in a homogenous environment (Petersen, 1975; Grover, 1997)
We propose a resource-based model of multi-species competition in the framework of evolutionary game theory, which allows for stable coexistence of a large number of species in a relatively large parameter range

Summary

Introduction

Species coexistence under ecological competition has been long debated in ecology (May & Angela, 2007). A fundamental question is how it is possible to observe so many species coexisting as few limiting resources are available This pattern is not rare in natural communities, being the best example the observed species diversity of algae communities with two or three limiting resources in relatively homogenous environment. This contradicts the predictions made by several theoretical models which conclude that no more species can coexist compared to the number of limiting resources in a homogenous environment (Petersen, 1975; Grover, 1997).

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Conclusion