Spatial Variability Enhances Species Fitness in Stochastic Predator-Prey Interactions

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Date
2008-12-19
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Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Abstract

We study the influence of spatially varying reaction rates on a spatial stochastic two-species Lotka-Volterra lattice model for predator-prey interactions using two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations. The effects of this quenched randomness on population densities, transient oscillations, spatial correlations, and invasion fronts are investigated. We find that spatial variability in the predation rate results in more localized activity patches, which in turn causes a remarkable increase in the asymptotic population densities of both predators and prey and accelerated front propagation.

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Keywords
lotka-volterra model, lattice-gas model, wave-front, system, speed, fluctuations, equations, invasion, velocity, noise, Physics
Citation
Dobramysl, Ulrich ; Taeuber, Uwe C., Dec 19, 2008. “Spatial Variability Enhances Species Fitness in Stochastic Predator-Prey Interactions,” PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 101(25): 258102. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.258102