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Free keywords:
eco-evolutionary dynamics, social dilemma,
spatial dynamics, pattern formation
Abstract:
Spatial patterns are ubiquitous across different scales of
organization in ecological systems. Animal coat pattern,
spatial organization of insect colonies and vegetation in arid
areas are prominent examples from such diverse ecologies.
Typically, pattern formation has been described by reaction–
diffusion equations, which consider individuals dispersing
between subpopulations of a global pool. This framework
applied to public goods game nicely showed the endurance of
populations via diffusion and generation of spatial patterns.
However, how the spatial characteristics, such as diffusion, are
related to the eco-evolutionary process as well as the nature of
the feedback from evolution to ecology and vice versa, has
been so far neglected. We present a thorough analysis of
the ecologically driven evolutionary dynamics in a spatially
extended version of ecological public goods games.
Furthermore, we show how these evolutionary dynamics feed
back into shaping the ecology, thus together determining the
fate of the system.
