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Expanded view of ecosystem stability: A grazed grassland case study

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  • Gidon Eshel
  • Yohay Carmel

Abstract

Analysis of stability under linearized dynamics is central to ecology. We highlight two key limitations of the widely used traditional analysis. First, we note that while stability at fixed points is often the focus, ecological systems may spend less time near fixed points, and more time responding to stochastic environmental forcing by exhibiting wide zero-mean fluctuations about those states. If non-steady, uniquely precarious states along the nonlinear flow are analyzed instead of fixed points, transient growth is possible and indeed common for ecosystems with stable attractive fixed points. Second, we show that in either steady or non-steady states, eigenvalue based analysis can misleadingly suggest stability while eigenvector geometry arising from the non-self-adjointness of the linearized operator can yield large finite-time instabilities. We offer a simple alternative to eigenvalue based stability analysis that naturally and straightforwardly overcome these limitations.

Suggested Citation

  • Gidon Eshel & Yohay Carmel, 2017. "Expanded view of ecosystem stability: A grazed grassland case study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0178235
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178235
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gui-Quan Sun & Zhen Jin & Yi-Guo Zhao & Quan-Xing Liu & Li Li, 2009. "Spatial Pattern In A Predator-Prey System With Both Self- And Cross-Diffusion," International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 71-84.
    2. Thomas Eichner & Rüdiger Pethig, 2006. "An Analytical Foundation of the Ratio-Dependent Predator-Prey Model," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 121-132, August.
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