A model of discrete Kolmogorov-type competitive interaction in a two-species ecosystem

Abstract

An ecosystem is a nonlinear dynamical system, its orbits giving rise to the observed complexity in the system. The diverse components of the ecosystem interact in discrete time to give rise to emergent features that determine the trajectory of system's time evolution. The paper studies the evolutionary dynamics of a toy two species ecosystem modelled as a discrete time Kolmogorov system. It is assumed that only the two species comprise the ecosystem and compete with each other for obtaining growth resources, mediated through inter as well as intraspecific coupling constants to obtain resources for growth. Numerical simulations reveal the transition from regular to irregular dynamics and emergence of chaos during the process of evolution of these populations. We find that the presence or absence of chaotic dynamics is being determined by the interspecific interaction coefficients. For values of the interspecific interaction constants widely apart, the system emerges to regular dynamics, implying coexistence of the competing populations on a long term evolutionary scenario.