Code from: Spatial resource heterogeneity stabilizes local and regional predator-prey dynamics in ecologically-realistic networks

Spatial resource heterogeneity (SRH; the variable spatial distribution of resources) is a surprisingly understudied component of oscillatory consumer-resource dynamics. SRH may be particularly important in large, ecologically-realistic networks where different patterns of resource distribution can manifest, which has important implications for spatial synchrony. Here we explore how SRH in large spatial networks influences both local and regional consumer-resource stability. To do so, we employ a spatially-explicit Rosenzweig-MacArthur model and vary resource distribution accordingly: homogeneously-distributed resources of low, medium and high productivity, and heterogeneously-distributed resources. The latter includes networks with SRH of random variability in productivity (“random networks”) or a spatial productivity gradient (“gradient networks”). We analyze the effects of local patch factors (i.e., productivity and connectivity) and regional factors (i.e., productivity distribution and structure). First, we find that SRH, regardless of productivity distribution type, stabilizes regional dynamics via statistical stabilization of asynchronous oscillations and local dynamics by reducing the amplitude of oscillations and bounding them further from zero. Second, the local-level stabilizing effect increases with both productivity and connectivity. Lower productivity patches are subsequently destabilized in return, albeit minimally. Lastly, random variability in productivity provides the greatest local-level stabilization effect, because high productivity patches are often (highly) connected to lower ones in a way not possible in gradient networks. We conclude that SRH is a particularly strong driver of consumer-resource stability in that it provides local-level stability in a way that other forms of heterogeneity do not. To promote consumer-resource stability, management decisions should prioritize 1) variable resource distribution patterns in large spatial networks, and 2) high connectivity between patches of different productivity levels.