An individual-based predator-prey model for biological coevolution: Fluctuations, stability, and community structure

Abstract

We study an individual-based predator-prey model of biological coevolution, using linear stability analysis and large-scale kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The model exhibits approximate 1/f noise in diversity and population-size fluctuations, and it generates a sequence of quasi-steady communities in the form of simple food webs. These communities are quite resilient toward the loss of one or a few species, which is reflected in different power-law exponents for the durations of communities and the lifetimes of species. The exponent for the former is near -1, while the latter is close to -2. Statistical characteristics of the evolving communities, including degree (predator and prey) distributions and proportions of basal, intermediate, and top species, compare reasonably with data for real food webs.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures. Significantly expanded discussion of community structure and comparison with real food webs. Phys. Rev. E accepte