{
  "abstract": "One of the central challenges in evolutionary dynamics is understanding why some species combinations persist while others disappear. Although cyclic-interaction models have provided fundamental insights into biodiversity maintenance, much less is known about how hierarchical competitive interactions shape long-term community organization. Here, we investigate a hierarchical extension of the May-Leonard model, in which species interact through a directed predation chain while undergoing reproduction and mortality. Combining mean-field analysis with Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the fully coexisting state is generically unstable, causing the dynamics to evolve toward lower-dimensional coexistence states. The simulations further reveal stochastic extinctions dominating small populations with the dynamics progressively approaching the mean-field predictions as the system size increases. Rather than permitting arbitrary species combinations, the hierarchical-interaction structure dynamically constrains coexistence by selecting only specific subsets of species for long-term persistence. We show that these admissible coexistence states have a natural graph-theoretic interpretation as independent sets in the hierarchical interaction network, thereby providing general constraints on coexistence in hierarchical communities. Together, these results establish a theoretical framework linking hierarchical interactions, dynamical selection, graph topology, and biodiversity organization, extending the classical May-Leonard model beyond cyclic competition.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.09027",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Rakesh Samanta"
    },
    {
      "name": "Shraosi Dawn"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sk Jahiruddin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sirshendu Bhattacharyya"
    },
    {
      "name": "Chittaranjan Hens"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sayantan Nag Chowdhury"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2htb1b3x5encn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.09027",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2htb1b3x5encn",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.09027",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "nlin.CD"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "q-bio.PE"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212010712",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.09027",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-08",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2htb1b3x5encn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:52Z",
      "native_id": "2609.09027",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.09027"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "arxiv:q-bio.PE",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:nlin.CD",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Selection Rules for Species Coexistence in a Hierarchical May-Leonard Model",
  "title_text": "Selection Rules for Species Coexistence in a Hierarchical May-Leonard Model",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2htb1b3x5encn",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}