Fortune favours the brave: Movement responses shape demographic dynamics in strongly competing populations

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:420

Article

Potts, Jonathan R.¹  Petrovskii, Sergei V.² 

[1] Univ Sheffield, Sch Math & Stat, Hicks Bldg,Hounsfield Rd, Sheffield S3 7RH, S Yorkshire, England

[2] Univ Leicester, Dept Math, Leicester LE1 7RH, Leics, England

关键词: Competitive exclusion principle;    Lotka-Volterra competition model;    Movement ecology;    Population dynamics;    Taxis;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.03.011

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Animal movement is a key mechanism for shaping population dynamics. The effect of interactions between competing animals on a population's survival has been studied for many decades. However, interactions also affect an animal's subsequent movement decisions. Despite this, the indirect effect of these decisions on animal survival is much less well-understood. Here, we incorporate movement responses to foreign animals into a model of two competing populations, where inter-specific competition is greater than intra-specific competition. When movement is diffusive, the travelling wave moves from the stronger population to the weaker. However, by incorporating behaviourally induced directed movement towards the stronger population, the weaker one can slow the travelling wave down, even reversing its direction. Hence movement responses can switch the predictions of traditional mechanistic models. Furthermore, when environmental heterogeneity is combined with aggressive movement strategies, it is possible for spatially segregated co-existence to emerge. In this situation, the spatial patterns of the competing populations have the unusual feature that they are slightly out of-phase with the environmental patterns. Finally, incorporating dynamic movement responses can also enable stable co-existence in a homogeneous environment, giving a new mechanism for spatially segregated co-existence.

【 授权许可】

Free