A Mechanistically Integrated Model of Exploitative and Interference Competition over a Single Resource Produces...

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Theoretical Ecology
• Population Dynamics

Background:

• Ecological models often analyze exploitative competition separately from interference competition.
• Existing theory, like the R* rule, suggests limited coexistence for consumers sharing a single resource.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a model integrating both exploitative and interference competition for motile consumers.
• To investigate how interference competition influences species coexistence.

Main Methods:

• Analytical modeling of motile consumers with direct interference during resource handling.
• Derivation of coexistence conditions based on integrated competition parameters.

Main Results:

• Interference competition readily promotes species coexistence.
• Coexistence is possible without requiring higher intraspecific interference or direct costs of interference behaviors.
• Mechanisms for coexistence include hawk-dove game dynamics, dominance-discovery trade-offs, and a novel dove-discovery trade-off.

Conclusions:

• The integrated model provides a tractable framework for understanding coexistence.
• The R* rule's competitive exclusion is limited to scenarios where exploitative differences dominate.
• This work synthesizes disparate competition models and offers new insights into ecological coexistence.