Population models with sexual reproduction show a reduced propensity to exhibit chaos

Although a wide variety of population models commonly predict chaotic dynamics, chaos has not been widely observed in natural populations. One reason for this disparity may be that models generally have not represented the population genetics consequent from sexual reproduction. In this paper, genetics are represented very simply by one locus and two alleles giving three genotypes. Population growth of each genotype is described by the Ricker equation. When mating occurs only between individuals of the same genotype, linkage between populations of different genotype through production of homozygote offspring from two heterozygous parents results in a reduced propensity to exhibit chaos. The addition of small amounts of random mating (across genotypes) reduces the expectation of chaos still further.