On localizations in minimal cellular automata model of two-species mutualism

TL;DR

This paper investigates a simple two-dimensional cellular automaton model of two-species mutualism, revealing various localized and propagating spatial patterns that serve as foundational structures for understanding mutualistic interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal hexagonal cellular automaton model for two-species mutualism and maps the emergent space-time structures to different interaction parameters.

Findings

Identified propagating quasi-one dimensional patterns

Discovered very slowly growing clusters and stationary localizations

Mapped parameter sets to specific spatial structures

Abstract

A mutualism is an interaction where the involved species benefit from each other. We study a two-dimensional hexagonal three-state cellular automaton model of a two-species mutualistic system. The simple model is characterized by four parameters of propagation and survival dependencies between the species. We map the parametric set onto the basic types of space-time structures emerged in the mutualistic population dynamic. The structures discovered include propagating quasi-one dimensional patterns, very slowly growing clusters, still and oscillatory stationary localizations. Although we hardly find such idealized patterns in nature, due to increased complexity of interaction phenomena, we recognize our findings as basic spatial patterns of mutualistic systems, which can be used as baseline to build up more complex models.