Non-neutral theory of biodiversity

Ginestra Bianconi 1, Luca Ferretti 2, Silvio Franz 3

Europhysics Letters (EPL) 87 (2009) 28001

We present a non-neutral stochastic model for the dynamics taking place in a meta-community ecosystems. The model provides a framework for describing the emergence of multiple ecological scenarios and behaves in two extreme limits either as the unified neutral theory of biodiversity or as the Bak-Sneppen model. Interestingly, the model shows a condensation phase transition where one species becomes the dominant one, the diversity in the ecosystems is strongly reduced and the ecosystem is non-stationary. This phase transition extend the principle of competitive exlusion to open ecosystems and might be relevant for the study of the impact of invasive species in native ecologies.

  • 1. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
    ICTP Trieste
  • 2. Facultat de Veterinaria and IFAE,
    Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona
  • 3. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS),
    CNRS : UMR8626 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud
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