title: Hamiltonian dynamics for complex food webs.
abstract: We investigate stability and dynamics of large ecological networks by introducing classical methods of dynamical system theory from physics, including Hamiltonian and averaging methods. Our analysis exploits the topological structure of the network, namely the existence of strongly connected nodes (hubs) in the networks. We reveal new relations between topology, interaction structure, and network dynamics. We describe mechanisms of catastrophic phenomena leading to sharp changes of dynamics and hence completely altering the ecosystem. We also show how these phenomena depend on the structure of interaction between species. We can conclude that a Hamiltonian structure of biological interactions leads to stability and large biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of Linkoping, S-58183, Linkoping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kozlov
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Engineering Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg 199178, Russia and Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. Saint Petersburg 197101, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vakulenko
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, University of Linkoping, S-58183, Linkoping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Uno
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wennergren
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D020387:Food Chain; D008962:Models, Theoretical