Stochastic Rock-Paper-Scissors Population Dynamics

run

steps per update

1

10

25

50

reset to fixpoint

or click in the simplex/use the slider

reaction rates

selection

reproduction

instant reprod.

system size

max population

10000

small populations fluctuate more

	C
B		A
	A 25.% \| B 25.% \| C 25.%

population density

When three strategies (A, B, and C) compete for the same resources, a property called cyclic dominance can often be observed: the presence of As hinders the reproduction of Bs, Bs have an adverse effect on the reproduction of Cs, and Cs have a similar advantage over As. Real-life examples have been studied in colonies of bacteria (Kerr et al., 2002) and in lizard populations (Sinervo and Lively, 1996). You can examine the oscillating population structure that results from this rule and find out why random effects have a critical influence, as derived in (Reichenbach et al., 2006; 2008), by running this real-time simulation.