Dr. Qian He (Ph.D., 2011), Prof. Uwe Täuber, and Prof. Royce Zia publish paper in The European Physical Journal B

Graduate student Qian He (Ph.D. August 2011), and Profs. Uwe C. Täuber and Royce Zia recently published a paper titled On the relationship between cyclic and hierarchical three-species predator-prey systems and the two-species Lotka-Volterra model in The European Physical Journal B - Condensed Matter and Complex Systems Volume 85, Number 4 (2012).

Population dynamics and game theory models in spatially extended systems such as regular lattices or irregular networks are currently a hot topic in statistical physics. These models serve as paradigmatic examples for structure formation and the role of fluctuations and correlations in non-equilibrium systems, and in addition contribute novel insights on the stability of ecosystems and coevolution of competing species in ecology. Qian He, in collaboration with his research adviser Uwe C.Täuber and emeritus professor Royce Zia, investigated if and how competing three-species predator-prey might in certain limits be effectively described by a mere two-species effective model. Employing mean-field approximations as well as extensive Monte Carlo simulations, the authors found that such a simplification is possible for an original cyclic three-species system (akin to the "rock-paper-scissors" game), but not for a hierarchical food chain.