Cooperation and antagonism in information exchange in a growth scenario with two species

TL;DR

This paper models how two bacterial species exchange environmental information and how their interactions shift from cooperation to antagonism depending on resource availability, using an information-theoretic and game-theoretic framework.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking species interactions, resource levels, and information exchange, revealing a transition from cooperation to antagonism under resource scarcity.

Findings

Species cooperate when resources are abundant.

Species become antagonistic when resources are scarce.

Information exchange dynamics depend on resource availability.

Abstract

We consider a simple information-theoretic model of communication, in which two species of bacteria have the option of exchanging information about their environment, thereby improving their chances of survival. For this purpose, we model a system consisting of two species whose dynamics in the world are modelled by a bet-hedging strategy. It is well known that such models lend themselves to elegant information-theoretical interpretations by relating their respective long-term growth rate to the information the individual species has about its environment. We are specifically interested in modelling how this dynamics are affected when the species interact cooperatively or in an antagonistic way in a scenario with limited resources. For this purpose, we consider the exchange of environmental information between the two species in the framework of a game. Our results show that a transition from a cooperative to an antagonistic behaviour in a species results as a response to a change in the availability of resources. Species cooperate in abundance of resources, while they behave antagonistically in scarcity.