Biodiversity and Game Theory
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-tackling-great-paradox-biodiversity-game.html
How do so many species coexist in environments with limited resources? Somehow this happens without many species going extinct all of the time. The paradox, sometimes referred to as the “plankton paradox” is based on the idea that for every resource, one species will be best at consuming the resource. This should drive other species that need the resource to extinction. However, we do not see this in reality; thousands of species rely on the same limited resources in many environments. The paradox still remains a mystery, but scientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Portugal are now applying game theory to the puzzle. The researchers essentially imagined species as either hawks or doves—hostile or pacific. In setting up this hawk-dove game, their model showed that biodiversity exponentially increases with increased resources.
The researchers apply game theory much like we have in class. However, we have always spoke about game theory involving people who are consciously making their decisions. Animals, on the other hand, are acting on instinct; they are using their resources in the ways they know will aid their survival. Yet it seems that a Nash Equilibrium of sorts is met—every animal has the resources they need to survive, and they all do this while coexisting.