Chaos and predictability in population dynamics.
This article reviews recent case studies that demonstrate with the use of mathematical simulations some ecological consequences of the competition between chaos and other, non-chaotic types of population dynamics. Specifically, the results obtained testify that competition between different dynamical regimes can make predictability of the population dynamics more complicated than that of chaotic population dynamics. In the case where the structure of the basins of attraction to each of the competing dynamical regimes is fractal, estimation of the horizon of predictability can even lose its significance.
Medvinsky
Alexander B
AB
Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142290, Russia. medvinsky@iteb.ru