Universal evolutionary model for periodical species

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal mathematical model explaining the periodicity of species like cicadas and bamboos, based on species interactions and simple arithmetic principles, unifying various observed cycle patterns.

Contribution

The paper presents a simple, qualitative model that captures diverse species periodicity phenomena through a fitness-based selection mechanism and four fundamental arithmetic principles.

Findings

Model explains prime, multiple, and equal period cases

Unifies various species interaction patterns under one framework

Predicts observed periodicity in real-world species

Abstract

Real-world examples of periods of periodical organisms range from cicadas whose life-cycles are larger prime numbers, like 13 or 17, to bamboos whose periods are large multiples of small primes, like 40 or even 120. The periodicity is caused by interaction of species, be it a predator-prey relationship, symbiosis, commensialism, or competition exclusion principle. We propose a simple mathematical model which explains and models all those principles, including listed extremel cases. This, rather universal, qualitative model is based on the concept of a local fitness function, where a randomly chosen new period is selected if the value of the global fitness function of the species increases. Arithmetically speaking, the different observed interactions are related to only four principles: given a couple of integer periods either (1) their greatest common divisor is one, (2) one of the periods is prime, (3) both periods are equal, or (4) one period is an integer multiple of the other.