Aggregated Distribution as an Explanation for the Paradox of Plankton and Collective Animal Behavior

SIMPLE SUMMARY: ECA is similar to a cellular automaton that mimics the evolutionary dynamics of species in metapopulations, simulating the underlying mechanisms of natural selection. In this work, we carry out an in-silico study of the effects of different dispersal strategies on the evolutionary balance of interactions between digital organisms. In ECA we see how a specific type of distribution can significantly influence the dynamics, persistence, distribution, and abundance of populations of different species within a particular habitat. In the first place, we show that an aggregate distribution is more inefficient than a uniform distribution. Still, we verify that this aggregate distribution is essential in predator–prey type interactions so that the species involved do not become extinct. We also show that the aggregate distribution does not comply with the competitive exclusion principle and, for this reason, it results in a general and straightforward explanation for the paradox of plankton and the grouping of animals. Many animals and especially some planktonic species group together in specific spaces, although some travel adrift, leaving other areas or patches free where competitors or their prey can prosper, preventing them from becoming extinct. ABSTRACT: This work analyzes the evolutionary consequences of different aggregation levels of species distribution with an Evolutionary Cellular Automaton (ECA). We have found that in habitats with the same carrying capacity, aggregated distributions preserve smaller populations than do uniform distributions, i.e., they are less efficient. Nonetheless, we have also found that aggregated distributions, among other factors, can help the evolutionary stability of some biological interactions, such as predator–prey interactions, despite their granting less individual fitness. Besides, the competitive exclusion principle does not usually stand in populations with aggregated distribution. We have applied ECA to study the effects of aggregated distribution in two notorious cases: in the so-called paradox of the plankton and in gregarious animals. In doing so, we intend to ratify long-established ecological knowledge explaining these phenomena from a new perspective. In the first case, due to aggregate distribution, large aggregations of digital organisms mimicking very abundant planktonic species, leave large patches or oceanic areas free for other less competitive organisms, which mimic rare species, to prosper. In this case, we can see how effects, such as ecological drift and the small portion, act simultaneously. In the second case of aggregation, the aggregate distribution of gregarious animals could be explained under specialized predator–prey interactions and interdemic competition. Thus, digital organisms that imitate predators reduce the competitive capacity of their prey, destabilizing their competitiveness against other species. The specialized predator also goes extinct if the prey goes extinct by natural selection. Predators that have an aggregate distribution compensate the prey and thus avoid exclusion. This way there are more predator-free patches in which the prey can prosper. However, by granting greater colonization capacity to its prey, the predator loses competitiveness. Therefore, it is a multilevel selection event in which group adaptation grows to the detriment of the predator as an individual.