Specific locking in populations dynamics: Symmetry analysis for coupled heteroclinic cycles

Population dynamics on two sites of ecological fields are studied. Each site shows oscillatory dynamics with a heteroclinic cycle or a limit cycle attractor, and populations migrate between two sites diffusively. In this system, frequency locking states with specific ratios between the oscillations of two sites are observed. The selection of the ratios are explained with the symmetry of the phase space. Other properties of the locking states as behaviors intrinsic to heteroclinic cycles are also discussed.