Biodiversity in spatial rock-paper-scissors games

The struggle for survival between competing bacteria species in a petri dish can create beautiful spiral patterns—until one type conquers all the available space, destroying the entangled structure. Kerr et al. made these observations when they mixed three E. coli populations exhibiting cyclic dominance (Kerr et al., 2002): A beats B beats C beats A. As shown in (Reichenbach et al., 2007; 2008), the mobility of the bacteria, that is, their spatial relocation rate, is crucial for the stability of coexistence. Using this Demonstration, you can simulate a spatial rock-paper-scissors game and observe the role mobility playsEducação Superior::Ciências Exatas e da Terra::MatemáticaEnsino Médio::Matemátic