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dc.contributor.authorSanchez, Alvaro
dc.contributor.authorDai, Lei
dc.contributor.authorGore, Jeff
dc.contributor.authorChen, Andrew I.
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-11T14:23:16Z
dc.date.available2015-08-11T14:23:16Z
dc.date.issued2014-05
dc.date.submitted2013-10
dc.identifier.issn2041-1723
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98065
dc.description.abstractEcosystems can undergo sudden shifts to undesirable states, but recent studies with simple single-species ecosystems have demonstrated that advance warning can be provided by the slowing down of population dynamics near a tipping point. However, it is unclear how this ‘critical slowing down’ will manifest in ecosystems with strong interactions between their components. Here we probe the dynamics of an experimental producer-freeloader ecosystem as it approaches a catastrophic collapse. Surprisingly, the producer population grows in size as the environment deteriorates, highlighting that population size can be a misleading measure of ecosystem stability. By analysing the oscillatory producer-freeloader dynamics for over 100 generations in multiple environmental conditions, we find that the collective ecosystem dynamics slow down as the tipping point is approached. Analysis of the coupled dynamics of interacting populations may therefore be necessary to provide advance warning of collapse in complex communities.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipTempleton Foundation. Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology (Grant RFP-12-07)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NIH DP2)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R00 GM085279-02)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-1055154)en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipPew Charitable Trustsen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipAlfred P. Sloan Foundationen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipPaul Allen Foundationen_US
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNature Publishing Groupen_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4713en_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alikeen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/en_US
dc.sourcePMCen_US
dc.titleDynamics of a producer-freeloader ecosystem on the brink of collapseen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationChen, Andrew, Alvaro Sanchez, Lei Dai, and Jeff Gore. “Dynamics of a Producer-Freeloader Ecosystem on the Brink of Collapse.” Nat Comms 5 (May 2, 2014).en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physicsen_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorChen, Andrew I.en_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorSanchez, Alvaroen_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorDai, Leien_US
dc.contributor.mitauthorGore, Jeffen_US
dc.relation.journalNature Communicationsen_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's final manuscripten_US
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dspace.orderedauthorsChen, Andrew; Sanchez, Alvaro; Dai, Lei; Gore, Jeffen_US
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8018-9701
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-8555
mit.licenseOPEN_ACCESS_POLICYen_US
mit.metadata.statusComplete


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