Noise Promotes Species Diversity in Nature

Species diversity in nature is accomplished by coexistence. In a spatial environment, inferior but rapidly moving species can coexist with superior but relatively stationary species. Recent work showed that chaotic dynamics can provide the spatiotemporal variation in the fitness required for coexistence, via the dynamical mechanism of synchronization and intermittency. Utilizing a realistic model that consists of two interacting species in a two-patch environment, we discovered a stochastic-resonance phenomenon where noise can significantly enhance the coexistence and thereby promote species diversity.