Bak–Sneppen model
The bak-sneppen model is like a game we can play to see how things change over time. Imagine we have a big group of animals in a forest, like rabbits and foxes. They need to eat food to survive, and sometimes they eat each other.
Now, let's say something happens, like a flood or a fire, and a bunch of food is destroyed. This means some animals won't be able to find enough food to survive, and will die.
In the bak-sneppen model, we can represent each animal with a dot on a graph, and the amount of food they have with a number. We start by giving each animal a random amount of food, and then we take away the food of the animals that couldn't find enough.
But wait, there's more! When an animal loses its food, it can't just sit there and wait to die. It has to try and find more food or a new home to survive. So in the bak-sneppen model, we say that when an animal loses its food, it also moves to a new spot on the graph, randomly.
This means that sometimes, an animal will end up right next to another animal that has way more food than it does. If this happens, the weaker animal can eat the food of the stronger animal, and then the stronger animal will have to move to a new spot on the graph, and so on.
As time goes on, the animals keep moving and eating and dying, and eventually the graph starts to look very different from how it started. Sometimes, a few animals end up with a lot of food and are very successful, while others don't have enough and die out.
Scientists like to study the bak-sneppen model to understand how things in nature compete and survive, and how small changes can lead to big effects over time.
Now, let's say something happens, like a flood or a fire, and a bunch of food is destroyed. This means some animals won't be able to find enough food to survive, and will die.
In the bak-sneppen model, we can represent each animal with a dot on a graph, and the amount of food they have with a number. We start by giving each animal a random amount of food, and then we take away the food of the animals that couldn't find enough.
But wait, there's more! When an animal loses its food, it can't just sit there and wait to die. It has to try and find more food or a new home to survive. So in the bak-sneppen model, we say that when an animal loses its food, it also moves to a new spot on the graph, randomly.
This means that sometimes, an animal will end up right next to another animal that has way more food than it does. If this happens, the weaker animal can eat the food of the stronger animal, and then the stronger animal will have to move to a new spot on the graph, and so on.
As time goes on, the animals keep moving and eating and dying, and eventually the graph starts to look very different from how it started. Sometimes, a few animals end up with a lot of food and are very successful, while others don't have enough and die out.
Scientists like to study the bak-sneppen model to understand how things in nature compete and survive, and how small changes can lead to big effects over time.