Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2012
Publication Title
Ecology (Brooklyn, NY)
Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract
The importance of negative intraspecific density dependence to promoting species coexistence in a community is well accepted. However, such mechanisms are typically omitted from more explicit models of community dynamics. Here I analyze a variation of the Rosenzweig-MacArthur consumer–resource model that includes negative intraspecific density dependence for consumers to explore its effect on the coexistence of multiple consumers feeding on a single resource. This analysis demonstrates that a guild of multiple consumers can easily coexist on a single resource if each limits its own abundance to some degree, and stronger intraspecific density dependence permits a wider variety of consumers to coexist. The mechanism permitting multiple consumers to coexist works in a fashion similar to apparent competition or to each consumer having its own specialized predator. These results argue for a more explicit emphasis on how negative intraspecific density dependence is generated and how these mechanisms combine with species interactions to shape overall community structure.
DOI
10.1890/12-0797.1
Original Citation
McPeek MA. Intraspecific density dependence and a guild of consumers coexisting on one resource. Ecology. 2012 Dec;93(12):2728-35. doi: 10.1890/12-0797.1. PMID: 23431602.
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
McPeek, Mark A., "Intraspecific Density Dependence and a Guild of Consumers Coexisting on One Resource" (2012). Dartmouth Scholarship. 767.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/767
