Self-organized biodiversity in biotic resource systems through pairwise encounters

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A central issue in ecology is understanding what determines biodiversity in nature, particularly in biotic resource systems that typically lack cross-feeding. In this study, we demonstrate that by incorporating pairwise encounters among individuals of the same consumer species, a diverse array of consumer species can self-organize to coexist in a well-mixed system with one or a few biotic resource species. The coexistence modes may manifest as either stable steady states or self-organized oscillations. Notably, all coexistence states are robust to stochasticity, as confirmed by both stochastic simulation algorithms and individual-based modeling. Our model quantitatively illustrates species distribution patterns in various ecological communities and can be broadly used to explain biodiversity in many biotic resource systems.