Spatio-temporal pattern formation under varying functional response parametrizations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gaine, Indrajyoti, Banerjee, Malay
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Gaine, Indrajyoti
Banerjee, Malay
author_facet Gaine, Indrajyoti
Banerjee, Malay
contents Enhancement of the predictive power and robustness of nonlinear population dynamics models allows ecologists to make more reliable forecasts about species' long term survival. However, the limited availability of detailed ecological data, especially for complex ecological interactions creates uncertainty in model predictions, often requiring adjustments to the mathematical formulation of these interactions. Modifying the mathematical representation of components responsible for complex behaviors, such as predation, can further contribute to this uncertainty, a phenomenon known as structural sensitivity. Structural sensitivity has been explored primarily in non-spatial systems governed by ordinary differential equations (ODEs), and in a limited number of simple, spatially extended systems modeled by nonhomogeneous parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs), where self-diffusion alone cannot produce spatial patterns. In this study, we broaden the scope of structural sensitivity analysis to include spatio-temporal ecological systems in which spatial patterns can emerge due to diffusive instability. Through a combination of analytical techniques and supporting numerical simulations, we show that pattern formation can be highly sensitive to how the system and its associated ecological interactions are mathematically parameterized. In fact, some patterns observed in one version of the model may completely disappear in another with a different parameterization, even though the underlying properties remain unchanged.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_12933
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spatio-temporal pattern formation under varying functional response parametrizations
Gaine, Indrajyoti
Banerjee, Malay
Pattern Formation and Solitons
Dynamical Systems
35B36, 92C15
Enhancement of the predictive power and robustness of nonlinear population dynamics models allows ecologists to make more reliable forecasts about species' long term survival. However, the limited availability of detailed ecological data, especially for complex ecological interactions creates uncertainty in model predictions, often requiring adjustments to the mathematical formulation of these interactions. Modifying the mathematical representation of components responsible for complex behaviors, such as predation, can further contribute to this uncertainty, a phenomenon known as structural sensitivity. Structural sensitivity has been explored primarily in non-spatial systems governed by ordinary differential equations (ODEs), and in a limited number of simple, spatially extended systems modeled by nonhomogeneous parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs), where self-diffusion alone cannot produce spatial patterns. In this study, we broaden the scope of structural sensitivity analysis to include spatio-temporal ecological systems in which spatial patterns can emerge due to diffusive instability. Through a combination of analytical techniques and supporting numerical simulations, we show that pattern formation can be highly sensitive to how the system and its associated ecological interactions are mathematically parameterized. In fact, some patterns observed in one version of the model may completely disappear in another with a different parameterization, even though the underlying properties remain unchanged.
title Spatio-temporal pattern formation under varying functional response parametrizations
topic Pattern Formation and Solitons
Dynamical Systems
35B36, 92C15
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12933