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Optimal allocation in annual plants with density-dependent fitness
Sergiy Koshkin1, Zachary Zalles2, Michael F Tobin3
1University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX, USA. koshkins@uhd.edu.
Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den Biowissenschaften
|April 13, 2021
Summary
This study models plant growth, predicting earlier maturity with increased lifetime correlation. Optimal strategies balance vegetative growth and reproduction, influenced by environmental variability and production functions.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Annual plants face temporally variable environments.
- Density-dependent factors like juvenile mortality affect plant fitness.
- Previous models focused on specific mean maximizers (arithmetic, geometric).
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop optimal two-sector (vegetative, reproductive) allocation models for annual plants.
- To incorporate density-dependent lifetime variability and juvenile mortality.
- To explore a wider range of production functions with diminishing returns.
Main Methods:
- Developed a fitness function maximizing expected value.
- Analyzed optimal allocation strategies under varying environmental conditions.
- Derived analytic estimates for power means interpolating between arithmetic and geometric means.
Main Results:
- Increased correlation in individual plant lifetimes advances the time of maturity.
- Optimal allocation strategies shift from extreme 'bang-bang' to mixed vegetative-reproductive growth.
- Less concave production functions extend the period of mixed growth.
Conclusions:
- Plant allocation strategies are sensitive to environmental variability and density-dependent mortality.
- The model provides a more generalized framework for understanding plant life history evolution.
- Findings offer insights into how plants balance growth and reproduction for survival.
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