Patchy environment as a factor of complex plankton dynamics

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Abstract
We study the role of the diffusive interaction in plankton dynamics in a patchy environment. We use a minimal reaction-diffusion model of the nutrient—plankton—fish food chain to simulate the diffusive interaction between fish-populated and fish-free habitats. We show that such interaction can give rise to spatiotemporal plankton patterns. The plankton dynamics depend on the fish predation rate and can exhibit both regular and chaotic behavior. We show that limit cycle and chaotic attractor coexist in the system. The entire basin of attraction of the limit cycles is found to be riddled with “holes” leading to the competitive chaotic attractors. The chaotic dynamics is typical of a wide range of the fish predation rates.

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