Migration feedback induces emergent ecotypes and abrupt transitions in evolving populations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how migration feedback influences the emergence of ecotypes and causes abrupt, discontinuous transitions in populations across heterogeneous environments, revealing complex phase behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a unifying framework linking migration feedback to emergent ecotypes and critical transitions in spatially structured populations.

Findings

Migration feedback creates spatially non-local niches for ecotype specialization.

Rugged fitness landscapes lead to diverse coexistence phases.

Discontinuous transitions differ from standard phase transitions, involving bifurcations and symmetry breaking.

Abstract

We explore the connection between migration patterns and emergent behaviors of evolving populations in spatially heterogeneous environments. Despite extensive studies in ecologically and medically important systems, a unifying framework that clarifies this connection and makes concrete predictions remains much needed. Using a simple evolutionary model on a network of interconnected habitats with distinct fitness landscapes, we demonstrate a fundamental connection between migration feedback, emergent ecotypes, and an unusual form of discontinuous critical transition. We show how migration feedback generates spatially non-local niches in which emergent ecotypes can specialize. Rugged fitness landscapes lead to a complex, yet understandable, phase diagram in which different ecotypes coexist under different migration patterns. The discontinuous transitions are distinct from the standard first-order phase transitions in statistical physics. They arise due to simultaneous transcritical bifurcations and exhibit a "fine structure" due to symmetry breaking between intra- and inter-ecotype interactions. We suggest feasible experiments to test our predictions.