Noise-induced symmetry breaking in a network of excitable ecological systems

Noise-induced symmetry breaking has barely been unveiled on the ecological grounds, though its occurrence may elucidate mechanisms responsible for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Here, for a network of excitable consumer-resource systems, we show that the interplay of network structure and noise intensity manifests a transition from homogeneous steady state to inhomogeneous steady states, resulting in noise-induced symmetry breaking. On further increasing the noise intensity, there exist asynchronous oscillations, leading to heterogeneity crucial for maintaining a system’s adaptive capacity. The observed collective dynamics can be understood analytically in the framework of linear stability analysis of the corresponding deterministic system.