title: Cyclic dominance and biodiversity in well-mixed populations.
abstract: Coevolutionary dynamics is investigated in chemical catalysis, biological evolution, social and economic systems. The dynamics of these systems can be analyzed within the unifying framework of evolutionary game theory. In this Letter, we show that even in well-mixed finite populations, where the dynamics is inherently stochastic, biodiversity is possible with three cyclic-dominant strategies. We show how the interplay of evolutionary dynamics, discreteness of the population, and the nature of the interactions influences the coexistence of strategies. We calculate a critical population size above which coexistence is likely.
authors: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts Universität, Olshausenstrasse 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
authors: Jens Christian
authors: JC
authors: Claussen
authors: Arne
authors: A
authors: Traulsen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics