Path-integral solution of MacArthur's resource-competition model for large ecosystems with random species-resources couplings

We solve MacArthur's resource-competition model with random species-resource couplings in the `thermodynamic' limit of infinitely many species and resources using dynamical path-integrals a la De Domincis. We analyze how the steady state picture changes upon modifying several parameters, including the degree of heterogeneity of metabolic strategies (encoding the preferences of species) and of maximal resource levels (carrying capacities), and discuss its stability. Ultimately, the scenario obtained by other approaches is recovered by analyzing an effective one-species-one-resource ecosystem that is fully equivalent to the original multi-species one. The technique used here can be applied for the analysis of other model ecosystems related to the version of MacArthur's model considered here.
Comment: This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Chaos 31, 103113 (2021) and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/5.0046972