Spiral waves, chaos and multiple attractors in lattice models of interacting populations

Abstract

Stable spatial patterns are shown to appear in a 2D coupled map lattice (CML) approach. The model is constructed from a two-dimensional nonlinear map based on the dynamics of interacting populations. Such structures are mainly spiral waves. Cha­ otic and periodic dynamics are present for different parameter combinations, as shown by the largest Lyapunov exponent. Mul­ tiple attractors are present for some range of initial conditions and spiral waves are also present at the chaotic domain of param­ eters. Implications for ecosystem dynamics are also discussed