  Network structure or connectivity pattern is critical in determining
collective dynamics among interacting species in ecosystems. Conventional
research on species persistence in spatial populations has focused on static
network structure, though most real network structures change in time, forming
time-varying networks. This raises the question, in metacommunities, how does
the pattern of synchrony vary with temporal evolution in the network structure.
The synchronous dynamics among species are known to reduce metacommunity
persistence. Here, we consider a time-varying metacommunity small-world network
consisting of a chaotic three-species food chain oscillator in each patch/node.
The rate of change in the network connectivity is determined by the natural
frequency or its subharmonics of the constituent oscillator to allow sufficient
time for the evolution of species in between successive rewirings. We find that
over a range of coupling strengths and rewiring periods, even higher rewiring
probabilities drive a network from asynchrony towards synchrony. Moreover, in
networks with a small rewiring period, an increase in average degree (more
connected networks) pushes the asynchronous dynamics to synchrony. On the
contrary, in networks with a low average degree, a higher rewiring period
drives the synchronous dynamics to asynchrony resulting in increased species
persistence. Our results also follow the calculation of synchronization time
and robust across other ecosystem models. Overall, our study opens the
possibility of developing temporal connectivity strategies to increase species
persistence in ecological networks.
