Eco-evolutionary dynamics with environmental feedback: cooperation in a changing world

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in eco-evolutionary game theory focusing on environmental feedback, oscillating social dilemmas, and promoting cooperation across various biological and social systems.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of mathematical methods and interdisciplinary applications for eco-evolutionary dynamics with environmental feedback, highlighting future research directions.

Findings

Oscillating dynamics of social dilemmas revealed

Mathematical frameworks for eco-evolutionary feedback analyzed

Strategies for promoting cooperation discussed

Abstract

Eco-evolutionary game dynamics which characterizes the mutual interactions and the coupled evolutions of strategies and environments has been of growing interests in very recent years. Since such feedback loops widely exist in a range of coevolutionary systems, such as microbial systems, social-ecological system and psychological-economic system, recent modeling frameworks that unveil the oscillating dynamics of social dilemmas have great potential for practical applications. In this perspective article, we overview the latest progress of evolutionary game theory in this direction. We describe both mathematical methods and interdisciplinary applications across different fields. The ideas worthy of further consideration are discussed in prospects, with the central role of promoting cooperations in a changing world.