Coupling-induced oscillations in two intrinsically quiescent populations

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that two nonoscillatory consumer-resource systems can exhibit sustained low-frequency antiphase oscillations when weakly coupled through interference competition, revealing a novel dynamical behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a model showing how coupling induces oscillations in two otherwise quiescent consumer-resource systems, highlighting a new mechanism of population dynamics.

Findings

Coupling induces sustained oscillations in nonoscillatory systems.

Oscillations are low-frequency and in antiphase.

The model highlights the role of interference competition.

Abstract

A model of two consumer-resource systems linked by interspecific interference competition of consumers is considered. The basic assumption of the model is that the dynamics of the resource is much slower than that of the consumer. In the absence of interaction each consumer-resource pair has a unique stable steady state which is completely nonoscillatory. When weakly coupled, the consumer-resource pairs are shown to exhibit sustained low-frequency synchronous antiphase relaxation oscillations.