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Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse

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  • Andrew Chen

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Alvaro Sanchez

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Present address: The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, 100 Edwin Land Boulevard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA)

  • Lei Dai

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Jeff Gore

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Ecosystems can undergo sudden shifts to undesirable states, but recent studies with simple single-species ecosystems have demonstrated that advance warning can be provided by the slowing down of population dynamics near a tipping point. However, it is unclear how this ‘critical slowing down’ will manifest in ecosystems with strong interactions between their components. Here we probe the dynamics of an experimental producer-freeloader ecosystem as it approaches a catastrophic collapse. Surprisingly, the producer population grows in size as the environment deteriorates, highlighting that population size can be a misleading measure of ecosystem stability. By analysing the oscillatory producer-freeloader dynamics for over 100 generations in multiple environmental conditions, we find that the collective ecosystem dynamics slow down as the tipping point is approached. Analysis of the coupled dynamics of interacting populations may therefore be necessary to provide advance warning of collapse in complex communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Chen & Alvaro Sanchez & Lei Dai & Jeff Gore, 2014. "Dynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapse," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-6, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4713
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4713
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    Cited by:

    1. Ivana Gudelj & Margie Kinnersley & Peter Rashkov & Karen Schmidt & Frank Rosenzweig, 2016. "Stability of Cross-Feeding Polymorphisms in Microbial Communities," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, December.

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