Dynamics of an ecological model living on the edge of chaos

摘要

We present a new ecological model, which displays “edge of chaos” (EoC) in parameter space. This suggests that ecological systems are not chaotic, instead, their dynamics can be characterized as short-term recurrent chaos. The system’s dynamics is unpredictable and admits bursts of short-term predictability. We also provide results, which suggest that fully developed chaos will rarely be observed in natural systems.