Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings

ABSTRACT Chaos is observed in natural systems, especially in ecosystems with populations characterized by a short reproductive time scale, such as plankton. We examined if external forcings can be the origin of chaos in a state‐of‐the‐art marine biogeochemical model. Both a seasonal temperature cycl...

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Main Authors: Guido Occhipinti, Cosimo Solidoro, Roberto Grimaudo, Davide Valenti, Paolo Lazzari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-08-01
Series:Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71930
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author Guido Occhipinti
Cosimo Solidoro
Roberto Grimaudo
Davide Valenti
Paolo Lazzari
author_facet Guido Occhipinti
Cosimo Solidoro
Roberto Grimaudo
Davide Valenti
Paolo Lazzari
author_sort Guido Occhipinti
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Chaos is observed in natural systems, especially in ecosystems with populations characterized by a short reproductive time scale, such as plankton. We examined if external forcings can be the origin of chaos in a state‐of‐the‐art marine biogeochemical model. Both a seasonal temperature cycle and noise added to this cycle were studied as external forcings, and their interaction with the dynamics resulting from biological interactions, such as competition. Our findings indicate that deterministic periodic forcing can induce chaos in the ecosystem only when biological interactions have already established periodic oscillations within the system. We conclude that random temperature fluctuations can be a driver of chaos in plankton populations, due also to the stochastic nature of the marine environment. The stochastic mechanism for the occurrence of chaos could find wide application in natural systems as it requires no preconditions.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Wiley
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series Ecology and Evolution
spelling doaj-art-694d3ec71e4d4fcfae4f0b20c06bb1d82025-08-20T04:02:41ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-08-01158n/an/a10.1002/ece3.71930Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature ForcingsGuido Occhipinti0Cosimo Solidoro1Roberto Grimaudo2Davide Valenti3Paolo Lazzari4National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS Trieste ItalyNational Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS Trieste ItalyDepartment of Physics and Astronomy “E. Majorana” University of Catania Catania ItalyDipartimento di Fisica e Chimica “Emilio Segrè” Università Degli Studi di Palermo Palermo ItalyNational Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS Trieste ItalyABSTRACT Chaos is observed in natural systems, especially in ecosystems with populations characterized by a short reproductive time scale, such as plankton. We examined if external forcings can be the origin of chaos in a state‐of‐the‐art marine biogeochemical model. Both a seasonal temperature cycle and noise added to this cycle were studied as external forcings, and their interaction with the dynamics resulting from biological interactions, such as competition. Our findings indicate that deterministic periodic forcing can induce chaos in the ecosystem only when biological interactions have already established periodic oscillations within the system. We conclude that random temperature fluctuations can be a driver of chaos in plankton populations, due also to the stochastic nature of the marine environment. The stochastic mechanism for the occurrence of chaos could find wide application in natural systems as it requires no preconditions.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71930chaosplanktonseasonalstabilitystochastic
spellingShingle Guido Occhipinti
Cosimo Solidoro
Roberto Grimaudo
Davide Valenti
Paolo Lazzari
Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
Ecology and Evolution
chaos
plankton
seasonal
stability
stochastic
title Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
title_full Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
title_fullStr Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
title_full_unstemmed Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
title_short Plankton Communities Behave Chaotically Under Seasonal or Stochastic Temperature Forcings
title_sort plankton communities behave chaotically under seasonal or stochastic temperature forcings
topic chaos
plankton
seasonal
stability
stochastic
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71930
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AT robertogrimaudo planktoncommunitiesbehavechaoticallyunderseasonalorstochastictemperatureforcings
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