Biodiversity through co-opetition

Ecology, Economy and Management Science require a huge interdisciplinary effort to ascertain the hidden mechanisms driving the evolution of communities and firm networks. This article shows that strategic alliances in competitive environments might provoke an explosive increment of productivity and stability through a feedback mechanism promoted by cooperation, while competition causes segregation within cooperative profiles. Some further speciation and radiation mechanisms enhancing innovation, facilitated by environmental heterogeneities, or specific market regulations, might explain the biodiversity of life and the high complexity of industrial and financial markets. Extinctions are likely to occur by the lack of adaptation of the strongest competitors to sudden environmental stress.