Comment on "dynamical mechanism for coexistence of dispersing species without trade-offs in spatially extended ecological systems".
Harrison et al. [Phys. Rev. E 63, 051905 (2001)] recently proposed that the temporal synchronization and desynchronization between populations in different habitats leads to species coexistence and occurs through a pattern of on-off intermittency. As noise is unavoidable in ecological systems, we show, using the same example, that "attractor bubbling" appears to be another plausible hypothesis to explain the scenario leading to species coexistence. The interest of attractor bubbling in ecology is confirmed by other examples concerning the evolution of intermittent rare species.
Rollin
Francois
F
CNRS UMR 7625, 7 quai Saint Bernard, Case 237, 75252 Paris, France.
Cazelles
Bernard
B
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D017753:Ecosystem; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008954:Models, Biological; D013045:Species Specificity