The form of population self-regulation and complexity-stability relationships in competitive disordered dynamical systems

This talk focuses on the specific forms that population self-regulation can take. It is an essential factor that underlies the behavior of ecological and other systems, with important implications for how populations maintain balance and respond to changes.

Utilizing a non-linear extension of the Lotka-Volterra model, I will discuss how different forms of self-regulation influence complexity and stability in competitive, disordered dynamical systems. Two distinct complexity-stability relationships emerge: when self-interactions increase more rapidly than cross-interactions with density, complexity leads to destabilization, but when cross-interactions grow faster, complexity promotes stability instead.

I will discuss challenges and perspectives in identifying the forms of population self-regulation from time series data, along with results and implications that extend beyond their impact on community dynamics.