We analyze the axiomatic strength of the following theorem due to Rival and Sands [28] in the style of reverse mathematics. Every infinite partial order P of finite width contains an infinite chain C such that every element of P is either comparable with no element of C or with infinitely many elements of C. Our main results are the following. The Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders of arbitrary finite width is equivalent to $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2} + \mathsf {ADS}$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. For each fixed $k \geq 3$, the Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders of width $\leq \!k$ is equivalent to $\mathsf {ADS}$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. The Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders that are decomposable into the union of two chains is equivalent to $\mathsf {SADS}$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. Here $\mathsf {RCA}_0$ denotes the recursive comprehension axiomatic system, $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2}$ denotes the $\Sigma ^0_2$ induction scheme, $\mathsf {ADS}$ denotes the ascending/descending sequence principle, and $\mathsf {SADS}$ denotes the stable ascending/descending sequence principle. To the best of our knowledge, these versions of the Rival–Sands theorem for partial orders are the first examples of theorems from the general mathematics literature whose strength is exactly characterized by $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2} + \mathsf {ADS}$, by $\mathsf {ADS}$, and by $\mathsf {SADS}$. Furthermore, we give a new purely combinatorial result by extending the Rival–Sands theorem to infinite partial orders that do not have infinite antichains, and we show that this extension is equivalent to arithmetical comprehension over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$.

We study combinatorial and order theoretic structures arising from the fragment of combinatory logic spanned by the basic combinator ${{\mathbf{M}}}$ . This basic combinator, named as the Mockingbird by Smullyan, is defined by the rewrite rule ${{\mathbf{M}}} \mathsf{x}_1 \to \mathsf{x}_1 \mathsf{x}_1$ . We prove that the reflexive and transitive closure of this rewrite relation is a partial order on terms on ${{\mathbf{M}}}$ and that all connected components of its rewrite graph are Hasse diagram of lattices. This last result is based on the introduction of new lattices on duplicative forests, which are sorts of treelike structures. These lattices are not graded, not self-dual, and not semi-distributive. We present some enumerative properties of these lattices like the enumeration of their elements, of the edges of their Hasse diagrams, and of their intervals. These results are derived from formal power series on terms and on duplicative forests endowed with particular operations.