Mobility and its sensitivity to fitness differences determine consumer-resource distributions

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Theoretical Ecology

Background:

• Animal resource exploitation depends on mobility and fitness sensitivity.
• Previous models treated these factors separately, often showing mobility hinders ideal free distribution (IFD).
• Empirical evidence suggests higher mobility aids information gathering, especially in human-altered environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model the positive correlation between mobility and fitness sensitivity for the first time.
• To analyze the consequences of this correlation on consumer-resource population dynamics.
• To investigate how this covariation affects the ideal free distribution.

Main Methods:

• Developing a novel model incorporating a positive correlation between mobility and fitness sensitivity.
• Analyzing system equilibria with and without consumer demography.
• Comparing model outcomes to ideal free distribution predictions.

Main Results:

• In models without consumer demography, mobility alone did not affect system equilibria.
• A positive correlation between mobility and fitness sensitivity could lead to an IFD.
• With consumer demography, high mobility positively correlated with fitness sensitivity resulted in an IFD, while low mobility hindered it.

Conclusions:

• The covariation of animal movement attributes, specifically mobility and fitness sensitivity, can drive consumer-resource patterns.
• This relationship helps explain spatial heterogeneity in resource abundance driven by consumers.
• Understanding these coupled movement traits is crucial for ecological theory.