Is there an algorithmic way to check if a dataset oscillates?

Question

A simulation gives the population numbers for every species in the domain per frame. These vary over time and can be quite noisy, is there a way of analysing the data algorithmically without drawing a graph whether or not these values oscillate?

Answer 1

Run a Fourier transform (FFT) on every series. Look for frequencies that surpass a threshold. Here is a tutorial for Matlab: http://www.ele.uri.edu/courses/ele436/labs/fft.pdf