Abstract:
Network structure or connectivity patterns are critical in determining collective dynamics among interacting
species in ecosystems. Conventional research on species persistence in spatial populations has focused on static
network structure, though most real network structures change in time, forming time-varying networks. This
raises the question, in metacommunities, how does the pattern of synchrony vary with temporal evolution in the
network structure. The synchronous dynamics among species are known to reduce metacommunity persistence.
Here we consider a time-varying metacommunity small-world network consisting of a chaotic three-species
food chain oscillator in each patch or node. The rate of change in the network connectivity is determined by the
natural frequency or its subharmonics of the constituent oscillator to allow sufficient time for the evolution of
species in between successive rewirings. We find that over a range of coupling strengths and rewiring periods,
even higher rewiring probabilities drive a network from asynchrony towards synchrony. Moreover, in networks
with a small rewiring period, an increase in average degree (more connected networks) pushes the asynchronous
dynamics to synchrony. On the other hand, in networks with a low average degree, a higher rewiring period drives
the synchronous dynamics to asynchrony resulting in increased species persistence. Our results also follow the
calculation of synchronization time and are robust across other ecosystem models. Overall, our study opens the
possibility of developing temporal connectivity strategies to increase species persistence in ecological networks.
