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We propose a three-component discrete-time model of the phytoplankton-zooplankton community, in which toxic and non-toxic species of phytoplankton compete for resources. The use of the Holling functional response of type II allows us to describe an interaction between zooplankton and phytoplankton. With the Ricker competition model, we describe the restriction of phytoplankton biomass growth by the availability of external resources (mineral nutrition, oxygen, light, etc.). Many phytoplankton species, including diatom algae, are known not to release toxins if they are not damaged. Zooplankton pressure on phytoplankton decreases in the presence of toxic substances. For example, Copepods are selective in their food choices and avoid consuming toxin-producing phytoplankton. Therefore, in our model, zooplankton (predator) consumes only non-toxic phytoplankton species being prey, and toxic species phytoplankton only competes with non-toxic for resources.

We study analytically and numerically the proposed model. Dynamic mode maps allow us to investigate stability domains of fixed points, bifurcations, and the evolution of the community. Stability loss of fixed points is shown to occur only through a cascade of period-doubling bifurcations. The Neimark – Sacker scenario leading to the appearance of quasiperiodic oscillations is found to realize as well. Changes in intrapopulation parameters of phytoplankton or zooplankton can lead to abrupt transitions from regular to quasi-periodic dynamics (according to the Neimark – Sacker scenario) and further to cycles with a short period or even stationary dynamics. In the multistability areas, an initial condition variation with the unchanged values of all model parameters can shift the current dynamic mode or/and community composition.

The proposed discrete-time model of community is quite simple and reveals dynamics of interacting species that coincide with features of experimental dynamics. In particular, the system shows behavior like in prey-predator models without evolution: the predator fluctuations lag behind those of prey by about a quarter of the period. Considering the phytoplankton genetic heterogeneity, in the simplest case of two genetically different forms: toxic and non-toxic ones, allows the model to demonstrate both long-period antiphase oscillations of predator and prey and cryptic cycles. During the cryptic cycle, the prey density remains almost constant with fluctuating predators, which corresponds to the influence of rapid evolution masking the trophic interaction.

An isolated system, which possesses a discrete set of microscopic states, is considered. The system performs spontaneous random transitions between the microstates. Kinetic equations for the probabilities of the system staying in various microstates are formulated. A general dimensionless expression for entropy of such a system, which depends on the probability distribution, is considered. Two problems are stated: 1) to study the effect of possible unequal probabilities of different microstates, in particular, when the system is in its internal equilibrium, on the system entropy value, and 2) to study the kinetics of microstate probability distribution and entropy evolution of the system in nonequilibrium states. The kinetics for the rates of transitions between the microstates is assumed to be first-order. Two variants of the effects of possible nonequiprobability of the microstates are considered: i) the microstates form two subgroups the probabilities of which are similar within each subgroup but differ between the subgroups, and ii) the microstate probabilities vary arbitrarily around the point at which they are all equal. It is found that, under a fixed total number of microstates, the deviations of entropy from the value corresponding to the equiprobable microstate distribution are extremely small. The latter is a rigorous substantiation of the known hypothesis about the equiprobability of microstates under the thermodynamic equilibrium. On the other hand, based on several characteristic examples, it is shown that the structure of random transitions between the microstates exerts a considerable effect on the rate and mode of the establishment of the system internal equilibrium, on entropy time dependence and expression of the entropy production rate. Under definite schemes of these transitions, there are possibilities of fast and slow components in the transients and of the existence of transients in the form of damped oscillations. The condition of universality and stability of equilibrium microstate distribution is that for any pair of microstates, a sequence of transitions should exist, which provides the passage from one microstate to next, and, consequently, any microstate traps should be absent.

The model of market pricing in duopoly describing the prices dynamics as a two-dimensional map is presented. It is shown that the fixed point of the map coincides with the local Nash-equilibrium price in duopoly game. There have been numerically identified a bifurcation of the fixed point, shown the scheme of transition from periodic to chaotic mode through a doubling period. To ensure the sustainability of local Nashequilibrium price the controlling chaos mechanism has been proposed. This mechanism allows to harmonize the economic interests of the firms and to form the balanced pricing policy.

This paper studies a model of a population with non-overlapping generations and density-dependent regulation of birth rate. The population breeds seasonally, and its reproductive potential is determined genetically. The model proposed combines an ecological dynamic model of a limited population with non-overlapping generations and microevolutionary model of its genetic structure dynamics for the case when adaptive trait of birth rate controlled by a single diallelic autosomal locus with allelomorphs A and a. The study showed the genetic composition of the population, namely, will it be polymorphic or monomorphic, is mainly determined by the values of the reproductive potentials of heterozygote and homozygotes. Moreover, the average reproductive potential of mature individuals and intensity of self-regulation processes determine population dynamics. In particularly, increasing the average value of the reproductive potential leads to destabilization of the dynamics of age group sizes. The intensity of self-regulation processes determines the nature of emerging oscillations, since scenario of stability loss of fixed points depends on the values of this parameter. It is shown that patterns of occurrence and evolution of cyclic dynamics regimes are mainly determined by the features of life cycle of individuals in population. The life cycle leading to existence of non-overlapping generation gives isolated subpopulations in different years, which results in the possibility of independent microevolution of these subpopulations and, as a result, the complex dynamics emergence of both stage structure and genetic one. Fixing various adaptive mutations will gradually lead to genetic (and possibly morphological) differentiation and to differences in the average reproductive potentials of subpopulations that give different values of equilibrium subpopulation sizes. Further evolutionary growth of reproductive potentials of limited subpopulations leads to their number fluctuations which can differ in both amplitude and phase.