We present a nonequilibrium statistical mechanics description of rank abundance relations (RAR) in random community models of ecology. Specifically, we study a multispecies replicator system with quenched random interaction matrices. We here consider symmetric interactions as well as asymmetric and antisymmetric cases. RARs are obtained analytically via a generating functional analysis, describing fixed-point states of the system in terms of a small set of order parameters, and in dependence on the symmetry or otherwise of interactions and on the productivity of the community. Our work is an extension of Tokita [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 178102 (2004)], where the case of symmetric interactions was considered within an equilibrium setup. The species abundance distribution in our model come out as truncated normal distributions or transformations thereof and, in some case, are similar to left-skewed distributions observed in ecology. We also discuss the interaction structure of the resulting food-web of stable species at stationarity, cases of heterogeneous cooperation pressures as well as effects of finite system size and of higher-order interactions.

• Received 21 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.031924