Exclusion and dominance in discrete population models via the carrying simplex

This paper is devoted to show that Hirsch's results on the existence of a carrying simplex are a powerful tool to understand the dynamics of Kolmogorov models. For two and three species, we prove that there is exclusion for our models if and only if there are no coexistence states. The proof of this result is based on a result in planar topology due to Campos, Ortega and Tineo. For an arbitrary number of species, we will obtain dominance criteria following the notions of Franke and Yakubu. In this scenario, the crucial fact will be that the carrying simplex is an unordered manifold. Applications in concrete models are given.