On-Off Intermittency in a Three-Species Food Chain

Gabriele Vissio,Antonello Provenzale

doi:10.3390/math9141641

Gabriele Vissio, Antonello Provenzale

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/math9141641

Copy DOI

Abstract

The environment affects population dynamics through multiple drivers. Here we explore a simplified version of such influence in a three-species food chain, making use of the Hastings–Powell model. This represents an idealized resource–consumer–predator chain, or equivalently, a vegetation–host–parasitoid system. By stochastically perturbing the value of some parameters in this dynamical system, we observe dramatic modifications in the system behavior. In particular, we show the emergence of on–off intermittency, i.e., an irregular alternation between stable phases and sudden bursts in population size, which hints towards a possible conceptual description of population outbursts grounded into an environment-driven mechanism.

Highlights

IntroductionOn-Off Intermittency in a ThreeSpecies Food Chain
This paper conceptually extends the works of Platt et al [2], Heagy et al [7], Toniolo et al [8] and Metta et al [9] and it focuses on the emergence of on–off intermittency in idealized food chains
In our view, such dynamical behavior can be taken as a conceptual description of species outbreak events in different levels of the food chain

Summary

Introduction

On-Off Intermittency in a ThreeSpecies Food Chain. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion