{
  "abstract": "Understanding how cooperation persists despite the advantage of selfish behavior remains a central challenge in evolutionary dynamics. Classical models of public goods dilemmas predict dominance of defectors, yet natural and social systems often sustain cooperation. We study an eco-evolutionary public goods game on complex networks where cooperators and defectors diffuse at different rates. When the isolated system is in a defector-dominated coexistence regime, faster dispersal of defectors than cooperators leads to a symmetry-breaking transition that produces localized clusters of cooperators. In heterogeneous networks, nodes with higher connectivity become significantly more likely to exhibit cooperative dominance. A degree-based mean-field reduction supports this result by showing that network connectivity controls an effective coupling strength proportional to node degree, thereby producing a bifurcation that separates defector-dominated and cooperative states. We also address why not all hubs become cooperative by means of a multistability analysis. These results reveal how asymmetric mobility and heterogeneous connectivity jointly promote cooperation in structured populations.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123, e2530131123 (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2607.15989",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Sourav Roy"
    },
    {
      "name": "Md Sayeed Anwar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Timoteo Carletti"
    },
    {
      "name": "Matjaz Perc"
    },
    {
      "name": "Dibakar Ghosh"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tegk1e54vgeq.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2607.15989",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9tegk1e54vgeq",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.15989",
  "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.AO"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "nlin.CD"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.soc-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "q-bio.PE"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.15989",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-07-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tegk1e54vgeq.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:27:53Z",
      "native_id": "2607.15989",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.15989"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "arxiv:q-bio.PE",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:nlin.AO",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Diffusion-induced instabilities promote cooperation in eco-evolutionary networks",
  "title_text": "Diffusion-induced instabilities promote cooperation in eco-evolutionary networks",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:27:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tegk1e54vgeq",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1073/pnas.2530131123",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}