Egg limitation in host-parasitoid dynamics: an individual-based perspective
Authored by Toshinori Okuyama
Date Published: 2015
DOI: 10.1007/s12080-015-0253-0
Sponsors:
Ministry of Science and Technology
Platforms:
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Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Theoretical models of parasitoid-host dynamics predict that egg
limitation in parasitoids destabilizes community dynamics. However, although egg limitation is experienced by individual parasitoids with
variable success of encountering hosts, such details were neglected in
previous models. This study developed an individual-based
parasitoid-host model that explicitly incorporates egg limitation and
host encounters of individual parasitoids. The model indicates that the
combination of egg limitation and variation in the success of
encountering hosts stabilizes parasitoid-host dynamics. The stabilizing
mechanism emerges from Jensen's inequality because egg limitation makes
the number of offspring inherently concave down in the number of
encountered hosts. Reasons for the inconsistent predictions of the
effect of egg limitation between the current model and previous models
are discussed.
Tags
behavior
models
Responses
Biological-control
Predators