Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS41 Diversity in the Plankton: Patterns & Mechanisms at Different Scales (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 2:15:00 PM

Location: Dona Ana

Huisman, J, , University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, jef.huisman@chem.uva.nl

Weissing, F, J, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, weissing@biol.rug.nl

THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF MULTISPECIES COMPETITION

Biodiversity has both fascinated and puzzled biologists. In aquatic ecosystems, the biodiversity puzzle is known as the 'plankton paradox'. The plankton paradox emphasizes the intriguing species richness of phytoplankton communities. Recently, we showed that competition may generate oscillations and chaos, if multiple species compete for three or more resources (Nature 1999, 2000). Here we discuss our latest results, which illustrate the fundamental unpredictability of the species composition of such chaotic communities. More specifically, we show that multispecies competition models may have several alternative outcomes, and that the basins of attraction of these alternative outcomes can have an intermingled fractal geometry. As a consequence of this fractal geometry, it is impossible to predict the winners of multispecies competition in advance.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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