https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06325-w
Regular Article
Deterministic and stochastic dynamics of seed dispersal mutualism: a study on density-dependent mechanism
School of Mathematical Science, Yangzhou University, 225002, Yangzhou, People’s Republic of China
Received:
27
December
2024
Accepted:
13
April
2025
Published online:
10
May
2025
Seed dispersal mutualism, where animals disperse seeds and plants provide nutritional rewards, is critical to maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem stability. This study develops a stochastic model to investigate how animals enhance plant survival by reducing seed density dependence, extending previous deterministic frameworks. Deterministic analysis identifies conditions for species survival, extinction, and coexistence, revealing that reduced density dependence stabilizes animal-only equilibria but is less effective in promoting coexistence compared to mechanisms that enhance seed germination. Stochastic analysis shows that moderate environmental noise significantly improves species persistence at low densities by rapidly driving the system toward coexistence, whereas intense environmental fluctuations accelerate extinction. Specifically, the model predicts extinction with probability one once noise surpasses a critical threshold. These findings highlight the dual effects of stochasticity on ecological stability and provide analytical methods broadly applicable to interdisciplinary research in physics, mathematical biology, and environmental sciences.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12201548), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, PR China (Grant No. BK20220553), and the Jiangsu Provincial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No. 202411117172Y).
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
