The impact of initial evenness on biodiversity maintenance for a four-species in silico bacterial community

Authored by Aisling J Daly, Jan M Baetens, Baets Bernard De

Date Published: 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.09.036

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Initial community evenness has been shown to be a key factor in preserving the functional stability of an ecosystem, but has not been accounted for in previous modelling studies. We formulate a model that allows the initial evenness of the community to be varied in order to investigate the consequent impact on system diversity. We consider a community of four interacting bacterial species, and present a stochastic, spatial individual-based model simulating the ecosystem dynamics. Interactions take place on a two-dimensional lattice. The model incorporates three processes: reproduction, competition and mobility. In addition to variable initial evenness, multiple competition schemes are implemented, modelling various possible communities, which results in diverse coexistence and extinction scenarios. Simulations show that long-term system behaviour is strongly dependent on initial evenness and competition structure. The system is generally unstable; higher initial evenness has a small stabilizing effect on ecosystem dynamics by extending the time until the first extinction. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tags

Diversity Coexistence sensitivity Rock-paper-scissors Grassland Ecosystem function Cyclic competition Species evenness Consumers guide Promotes