Cooperation-conflict dynamics and ecological resilience under environmental disturbances

Suvranil Chowdhury; Sujit Halder; Kaushik Kayal; Joydev Chattopadhyay; Suvranil Chowdhury; Sujit Halder; Kaushik Kayal; Joydev Chattopadhyay

doi:10.3934/mbe.2025078

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering

2025, Volume 22, Issue 8: 2120-2151. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2025078

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Research article Special Issues

Cooperation-conflict dynamics and ecological resilience under environmental disturbances

Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata 700108, India

Received: 01 February 2025 Revised: 03 June 2025 Accepted: 12 June 2025 Published: 03 July 2025

Ecosystem stability is increasingly threatened by rapid environmental fluctuations that alter species interactions and survival strategies. Traditional steady-state analyses often overlook transient dynamics that govern ecosystem responses to accelerating change. This study explored rate-induced tipping (R-tipping), a phenomenon where environmental change rates outpace species' adaptive capacity, triggering abrupt shifts between ecological states. Our findings demonstrate that species persistence depends on a delicate balance between cooperation-associated costs, population densities, and environmental variation rates. Under moderate fluctuations, species can track unstable states before reaching new equilibria, enhancing resilience. However, beyond critical thresholds, homoclinic and saddle-node bifurcations destabilize coexistence induced with increasing cooperation strength, leading to extinction cascades. By integrating time-dependent basin stability analysis, we uncovered mechanisms driving ecological transitions and identified key factors influencing long-term persistence. This research highlights the need for dynamic models to predict tipping events and informs conservation strategies for mitigating biodiversity loss in rapidly changing environments.
- transient states,
- alternative steady state,
- rate of environmental variation,
- tracking unstable states,
- ecosystem persistence,
- cost-associated cooperation,
- feed-forward mechanism
Citation: Suvranil Chowdhury, Sujit Halder, Kaushik Kayal, Joydev Chattopadhyay. Cooperation-conflict dynamics and ecological resilience under environmental disturbances[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2025, 22(8): 2120-2151. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2025078

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Abstract

Ecosystem stability is increasingly threatened by rapid environmental fluctuations that alter species interactions and survival strategies. Traditional steady-state analyses often overlook transient dynamics that govern ecosystem responses to accelerating change. This study explored rate-induced tipping (R-tipping), a phenomenon where environmental change rates outpace species' adaptive capacity, triggering abrupt shifts between ecological states. Our findings demonstrate that species persistence depends on a delicate balance between cooperation-associated costs, population densities, and environmental variation rates. Under moderate fluctuations, species can track unstable states before reaching new equilibria, enhancing resilience. However, beyond critical thresholds, homoclinic and saddle-node bifurcations destabilize coexistence induced with increasing cooperation strength, leading to extinction cascades. By integrating time-dependent basin stability analysis, we uncovered mechanisms driving ecological transitions and identified key factors influencing long-term persistence. This research highlights the need for dynamic models to predict tipping events and informs conservation strategies for mitigating biodiversity loss in rapidly changing environments.

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