Category: Pop. Genetics

Summary: Testing whether moderate catastrophe pulses stabilize hypercycle coexistence when lineage inheritance is strong and exchange between compartments is asymmetric.

Compartmentalized hypercycles can preserve cooperation among replicators, but shocks that periodically collapse compartments may either destroy or rescue coexistence depending on how compartments reconnect. This experiment asks whether catastrophe pulses help only when lineage structure is retained strongly enough and exchange is directional enough to reseed damaged compartments without homogenizing everything.

The simulations vary catastrophe strength, inheritance, and exchange asymmetry in compartment-based hypercycle dynamics. They look for regimes where moderate disturbance improves long-run coexistence rather than simply suppressing the system.

That makes the experiment a test of rescue through structured turnover. It asks whether collapse-and-recovery cycles can become constructive when memory and migration are balanced correctly.

Method: Compartmental hypercycle simulations with catastrophe pulses, lineage inheritance, and asymmetric inter-compartment exchange.

What is measured: Coexistence outcomes, catastrophe-rescue regimes, inheritance effects, exchange-asymmetry effects, and evidence for moderate-pulse benefit.