Competition and evolution in restricted space

TL;DR

This paper models the evolution of nodes in restricted Euclidean spaces, showing how spatial competition can limit growth and potentially cause population extinction.

Contribution

It introduces a branching process model incorporating spatial competition constraints, revealing effects on population dynamics and extinction risk.

Findings

Initial exponential growth transitions to a limiting population size.

Spatial competition can lead to population extinction under certain conditions.

The model captures resource competition effects in spatially restricted populations.

Abstract

We study the competition and the evolution of nodes embedded in Euclidean restricted spaces. The population evolves by a branching process in which new nodes are generated when up to two new nodes are attached to the previous ones at each time unit. The competition in the population is introduced by considering the effect of overcrowding of nodes in the embedding space. The branching process is suppressed if the newborn node is closer than a distance $\xi$ of the previous nodes. This rule may be relevant to describe a competition for resources, limiting the density of individuals and therefore the total population. This results in an exponential growth in the initial period, and, after some crossover time, approaching some limiting value. Our results show that the competition among the nodes associated with geometric restrictions can even, for certain conditions, lead the entire population to extinction.