Small-scale structure of nonlinearly interacting species advected by chaotic flows.
We study the spatial patterns formed by interacting biological populations or reacting chemicals under the influence of chaotic flows. Multiple species and nonlinear interactions are explicitly considered, as well as cases of smooth and nonsmooth forcing sources. The small-scale structure can be obtained in terms of characteristic Lyapunov exponents of the flow and of the chemical dynamics. Different kinds of morphological transitions are identified. Numerical results from a three-component plankton dynamics model support the theory, and they serve also to illustrate the influence of asymmetric couplings. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.
Hernandez-Garcia
Emilio
E
Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados (IMEDEA), CSIC-Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07071 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Lopez
Cristobal
C
Neufeld
Zoltan
Z