Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
5
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-8-18
pubmed:abstractText
One of the central goals of ecology is to predict the distribution and abundance of organisms. Here, we show that, in ecosystems of high biodiversity, the outcome of multispecies competition can be fundamentally unpredictable. We consider a competition model widely applied in phytoplankton ecology and plant ecology in which multiple species compete for three resources. We show that this competition model may have several alternative outcomes, that the dynamics leading to these alternative outcomes may exhibit transient chaos, and that the basins of attraction of these alternative outcomes may have an intermingled fractal geometry. As a consequence of this fractal geometry, it is impossible to predict the winners of multispecies competition in advance.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:status
PubMed-not-MEDLINE
pubmed:month
May
pubmed:issn
1537-5323
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
157
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
488-94
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Fundamental unpredictability in multispecies competition.
pubmed:affiliation
Aquatic Microbiology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 127, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jef.huisman@chem.uva.nl
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article