Abstract
Genetic variation in a population can sometimes arise so fast as to modify ecosystem dynamics. Such phenomena have been observed in natural predator-prey systems and characterized in the laboratory as showing unusual phase relationships in population dynamics, including a π phase shift between predator and prey (evolutionary cycles) and even undetectable prey oscillations compared to those of the predator (cryptic cycles). Here we present a generic individual-level stochastic model of interacting populations that includes a subpopulation of low nutritional value to the predator. Using a master equation formalism and by mapping to a coherent state path integral solved by a system-size expansion, we show that evolutionary and cryptic quasicycles can emerge generically from the combination of intrinsic demographic fluctuations and clonal mutations alone, without additional biological mechanisms.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 050702 |
Journal | Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 26 2014 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Statistics and Probability
- Condensed Matter Physics