Structured environments foster competitor coexistence by manipulating interspecies interfaces
Fig 1
Steric structures stabilize an in silico multi-species ecosystem.
Shown here are two 8-species in silico ecosystems in which all species are actively competing with all other species and the competition parameters are equal for all pairwise interactions. (A & B) Simulation of competition in an isotropic environment. If initial species representation is statistically equal, each species has equal probability of dominating the environment in the long-time limit. However, in any single simulation the dynamics of interspecies boundaries lead to a single dominant competitor in the long-time limit. (C & D) When species compete in an environment with ordered steric structures (R = 3, Δx/R = 3.5, and δ = 0), interspecies boundaries that are mobile under isotropic conditions quickly ‘pin’ between steric objects and arrest the genetic-phase coarsening that leads to a single dominant competitor, thereby robustly producing stable representation of all species. Steric structures also permit situations where 3 or more species form a ‘junction’ around a steric object (Diii and Div). In both simulations L = 150, ⟨P⟩ = 0.25, and ΔP = 0.