The competitive exclusion principle in stochastic environments (Q2303739)

Experimental and theoretical studies show that temporary fluctuations in the environment can contribute to the coexistence of competing species, because nonequilibrium conditions allow the environment to support different species at different times. This article shows that under various conditions a changing (stochastic) environment allows many competing species to coexist with limited resources or other factors depending on density. For the case when environmental fluctuations are modeled by white noise, and the growth rate of competitors per capita is linearly dependent on resources, the authors argue that there is a competitive exception. But if the relationship between growth rates and resources is not linear, or the noise component is non-linear, then coexistence on fewer resources (compared to the number of species) is possible. If temporary environmental fluctuations occur due to the switching of the medium at a random time between a finite number of possible states, all species can coexist, even if the growth rate is linearly dependent on resources. Thus, it is shown that different types of random temporary environmental changes interact differently with competitive exclusion depending on whether the growth rate depends linearly on resources or not. As long as the random temporary environmental change is ``smooth'' and ``linear'' and changes continuously, and the growth rate of resources is linear, the principle of competitive exclusion will be sustainable. It requires a nonlinear continuous random change in the environment over time, a ``discrete'' random temporary change in the environment that dramatically changes the dynamics of the system, or nonlinearity depending on the growth rate of resources per capita to facilitate coexistence.