Noise-induced synchronization in multitrophic chaotic ecological systems

Noise-induced synchronization is an unexpected phenomenon which we show here to have biological relevance for multitrophic ecological systems. We focus on two uncoupled Hastings–Powell systems having oscillatory dynamics. Despite the fact the systems are uncoupled, it is shown that they can nevertheless synchronize by applying common Gaussian noise forcing to a suitably chosen variable in both systems. Complete synchronization is studied in the case of identical oscillators, and intermittent synchronization is analyzed when the oscillators are nonidentical. We discuss how this unusual synchronization phenomenon has features akin to Ecology's well-known "Moran effect."