Synchrony in Slow–fast Metacommunities

Abstract

The synchronization of metacommunities due to dispersal among patches is analyzed in the case of slow-fast populations. The analysis is performed by studying a standard model with the fast population dispersing when special meteorological conditions are present. This assumption fits very well with the peculiar nature of slow-fast systems and implies that metacommunities synchronize if the slow population accelerates during the outbreak of the fast population. This result has great potentials for the study of marine and fresh-water plankton communities as well as for the study of synchronization of insect-pest outbreaks in forests.

Synchrony in tritrophic food chain metacommunities

“…Perhaps more promising, however, is the particularization to the case of slow-fast metacommunities where special forms of synchrony can be studied through the singular perturbation approach [51]. This would allow, for example, the study of synchronization of insect-pest outbreaks in forest [30].…”

Synchrony in Metapopulations with Sporadic Dispersal

“…The prominent example of an ecological network with random, "blinking" interactions is a chain of lakes connected via narrow, shallow channels where the migration of algae and zooplankton is due to weak, random water currents. These sporadic algae-zooplankton interactions among the lakes have been shown to trigger synchronous algae outbreaks and crashes, resulting in synchronous clear water episodes in Lake Lugano, Switzerland [Ravera, 1977;Rinaldi, 2009]. Synchronization of insect-pest outbreaks in forests, connected by high, but sporadic winds has also been largely debated (see [Rinaldi, 2012] and the references therein).…”