Abstract
A recurring problem in ecology is the relation between the complexity of an ecosystem and its stability. Most ecologists assumed the two concepts went together, i.e., greater complexity was associated with greater stability. However, May (1973) challenged this assumption and, indeed, showed that for Lotka—Volterra models of ecosystems, the opposite is sometimes true. However, he did not consider compartmental models and used only the number of nonzero flows as an indicator of complexity. For compartmental models, another approach, that we shall use, is possible.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Walter, G.G., Contreras, M. (1999). Complexity and Stability. In: Compartmental Modeling with Networks. Modeling and Simulation in Science, Engineering and Technology. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1590-5_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1590-5_23
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7207-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-1590-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive