resource competition

Competition-induced starvation drives large-scale population cycles in Antarctic krill

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba)—one of the most abundant animal species on Earth—exhibits a five to six year population cycle, with oscillations in biomass exceeding one order of magnitude. Previous studies have postulated that the krill cycle is …

Unifying ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory to predict production and trophic transfer in a marine planktonic food web

Two ecological frameworks have been used to explain multitrophic interactions, but rarely in combination: (i) ecological stoichiometry (ES), explaining consumption rates in response to consumers' demand and prey's nutrient content; and (ii) metabolic …

Environmental and trait variability constrain community structure and the biodiversity‐productivity relationship

There is still considerable debate about which mechanisms drive the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF). Although most scientists agree on the existence of two underlying mechanisms, complementarity and selection, …

Imperfect prey selectivity of predators promotes biodiversity and irregularity in food web

Ecological communities are often characterised by many species occupying the same trophic level and competing over a small number of vital resources. The mechanisms maintaining high biodiversity in such systems are still poorly understood. Here, we …

Enhanced Moran effect by spatial variation in environmental autocorrelation

Spatial correlations in environmental stochasticity can synchronize populations over wide areas, a phenomenon known as the Moran effect. The Moran effect has been confirmed in field, laboratory and theoretical investigations. Little is known, …

Depth of the biomass maximum affects the rules of resource competition in a water column

The theory of resource competition in spatially extended systems with resources and biomass fluxes is far from trivial. Here, we analyze the competition between two phytoplankton species for light and a nutrient in a weakly mixed water column. We …

A graphical theory of competition on spatial resource gradients

Resource competition is a fundamental interaction in natural communities. However, little remains known about competition in spatial environments where organisms are able to regulate resource distributions. Here, we analyse the competition of two …

Cycles, phase synchronization, and entrainment in single-species phytoplankton populations

Complex dynamics, such as population cycles, can arise when the individual members of a population become synchronized. However, it is an open question how readily and through which mechanisms synchronization-driven cycles can occur in unstructured …