Perturbing cyclic predator-prey systems: How a six-species coarsening system with nontrivial in-domain dynamics responds to sudden changes

Cyclic predator-prey systems have been shown to give rise to rich, and novel, space-time patterns, as, for example, coarsening domains with nontrivial in-domain dynamics. In this work, we study numerically the responses of a cyclic six-species model, characterized by the formation of spirals inside coarsening domains, to two different types of perturbations: changing the values of the predation and reproduction rates as well as changing the interaction scheme. For both protocols, we monitor the time evolution of the system after the onset of the perturbation through the measurement of dynamical correlation functions and time-dependent densities of empty sites. In this way, we gain insights into the complex responses to different perturbations in a system in which spirals, which are due to the formation of cyclic alliances, dominate the dynamics inside the coarsening domains.