Periodic environmental effect: stochastic resonance in evolutionary games of rock-paper-scissors

Abstract

A balance in nature is maintained by the coexistence of multiple species through interspecific competition. The evolutionary dynamics of cyclic interactions contain interactions that represent different biological behaviors. Biological behavior is influenced by the external environment, which may affect the stability of ecosystems. We investigated the evolutionary dynamics of interspecific competition after a periodic change in the external environment affects species. We consider that when the periodic external environments affect mortality, interspecific cyclical competition may be more pronounced, and thus increase the probability of extinction of species. By performing Monte Carlo simulations, we observed that the evolutionary dynamics of interspecific cyclic competition have different responsivity when subjected to external periodic changes at different frequencies, and stochastic resonance phenomena occurred. We show that the influence of the periodic external environment and its frequency is one of the factors that determine whether ecosystems coexist stably.