Weakly Chaotic Population Dynamics in Random Ecological Networks
  Population dynamics in random ecological networks are investigated by analyzing a simple deterministic equation. It is found that a sequence of abrupt changes of populations punctuating quiescent states characterize the long time behavior. An asymptotic analysis is developed by introducing a log-scaled time, and it is shown that such a dynamical process behaves as non-steady weak chaos in which population disturbances grow algebraically in time. Also, some relevance of our study to taxonomic data of biological extinction is mentioned. 
Shin-ichi Sasa (Department of physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606,   Japan; Address as of Aug. 16, 1994: Department of Pure...