Control of Tipping Points in Stochastic Mutualistic Complex Networks

Ecologically complex networks can exhibit a tipping point due to deteriorating conditions for species survival. It represents an extreme decline in abundance of species in a habitat. A number of random perturbations in actual ecological networks, such as demographic noise due to dynamic changes within populations and environmental noise due to external environmental disturbances, have a major effect in the tipping point dynamics. We propose a method to control the tipping point in pollinators-plants networks by controlling the decay rate of selected pollinator species. In this work, we show that the control delays the onset of the tipping point collapse and, additionally, it advances the recovery of species after the collapse. Our results are highly relevant for ecological habitats management.