Category: Science

Summary: Testing whether asynchronous catastrophe timing and lineage memory jointly improve coexistence in a hypercycle with refuges and exchange asymmetry.

Hypercycle-like systems can be fragile under repeated catastrophes, but their fate may depend not only on catastrophe frequency but also on whether shocks arrive synchronously and whether lineages retain memory of past conditions. This experiment asks whether asynchronous catastrophe timing works especially well when coupled to intermediate lineage memory.

The simulation sweeps inheritance strength, exchange asymmetry, catastrophe period, memory strength, and the number of catastrophe phase groups. It tracks coexistence, parasite fraction, diversity, asynchronous flux, refuge occupancy, and hit counts, then compares synchronous and asynchronous conditions to estimate gains and synergy terms.

That combination is more specific than asking whether memory or refuges help in general. The project is looking for an interaction effect: whether timing offsets between catastrophes create extra benefit only when the lineage and exchange dynamics are tuned into the right regime.

Method: Repeated hypercycle simulations crossing catastrophe phase structure, lineage memory, inheritance, and exchange asymmetry, then aggregating coexistence and synergy statistics.

What is measured: Terminal and mean coexistence, parasite fraction, diversity, asynchronous flux, refuge occupancy, async gain, memory-async synergy, and hit counts.