title: Species competition: coexistence, exclusion and clustering.
abstract: We present properties of Lotka-Volterra equations describing ecological competition among a large number of interacting species. First we extend previous stability conditions to the case of a non-homogeneous niche space, i.e. that of a carrying capacity depending on the species trait. Second, we discuss mechanisms leading to species clustering and obtain an analytical solution for a state with a lumped species distribution for a specific instance of the system. We also discuss how realistic ecological interactions may result in different types of competition coefficients.
authors.affiliation: IFISC (UIB-CSIC), Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos, Campus Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. emilio@ifisc.uib-csic.es
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernández-García
authors.forename: Cristóbal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pigolotti
authors.forename: Ken H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D003163:Competitive Behavior; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological