scholarly journals Competitive species interactions constrain abiotic adaptation in a bacterial soil community

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 580-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. J. Hall ◽  
Ellie Harrison ◽  
Michael A. Brockhurst
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Soil Community ◽  
Competitive Species ◽  
Abiotic Adaptation

Conspecific Emotional Cooperation Biases Population Dynamics

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan M. Olsen ◽  
Kyle I. Harrington ◽  
Hava T. Siegelmann
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Stochastic System ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Spatial Interactions ◽  
Biological Relevance ◽  
Competitive Species ◽  
Control Disease ◽  
Competing Populations

In this paper, the authors evaluate the benefit of emotions in population dynamics and evolution. The authors enhance cellular automata (CA) simulating the interactions of competing populations with emotionally inspired rules in communication, interpretation, and action. While CAs have been investigated in studies of population dynamics due to their ability to capture spatial interactions, emotion-like interactions have yet to be considered. Our cellular stochastic system describes interacting foxes that feed on rabbits that feed on carrots. Emotions enable foxes and rabbits to improve their decisions and share their experiences with neighboring conspecifics. To improve the system’s biological relevance, it includes inter-species disease transmission, and emotions encode data pertaining to both survival and epidemic reduction. Results indicate that emotions increase adaptability, help control disease, and improve survival for the species that utilizes them. Simulations support the hypothesis that the acquisition of emotion may be an evolutionary result of competitive species interactions.

Conspecific Emotional Cooperation Biases Population Dynamics

2012 ◽  
pp. 255-270
Author(s):  
Megan M. Olsen ◽  
Kyle I. Harrington ◽  
Hava T. Siegelmann
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Stochastic System ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Spatial Interactions ◽  
Biological Relevance ◽  
Competitive Species ◽  
Control Disease ◽  
Competing Populations

In this paper, the authors evaluate the benefit of emotions in population dynamics and evolution. The authors enhance cellular automata (CA) simulating the interactions of competing populations with emotionally inspired rules in communication, interpretation, and action. While CAs have been investigated in studies of population dynamics due to their ability to capture spatial interactions, emotion-like interactions have yet to be considered. Our cellular stochastic system describes interacting foxes that feed on rabbits that feed on carrots. Emotions enable foxes and rabbits to improve their decisions and share their experiences with neighboring conspecifics. To improve the system’s biological relevance, it includes inter-species disease transmission, and emotions encode data pertaining to both survival and epidemic reduction. Results indicate that emotions increase adaptability, help control disease, and improve survival for the species that utilizes them. Simulations support the hypothesis that the acquisition of emotion may be an evolutionary result of competitive species interactions.

scholarly journals Taylor's Law holds in experimental bacterial populations but competition does not influence the slope

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Ramsayer ◽  
Simon Fellous ◽  
Joel E. Cohen ◽  
Michael E. Hochberg
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Spatial Form ◽  
Bacterial Populations ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Laboratory Populations ◽  
Taylor’S Law ◽  
Competitive Species ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Past Half

Populations vary in time and in space, and temporal variation may differ from spatial variation. Yet, in the past half century, field data have confirmed both the temporal and spatial forms of Taylor's power Law, a linear relationship between log(variance) and log(mean) of population size. Recent theory predicted that competitive species interactions should reduce the slope of the temporal version of Taylor's Law. We tested whether this prediction applied to the spatial version of Taylor's Law using simple, well-controlled laboratory populations of two species of bacteria that were cultured either separately or together for 24 h in media of widely varying nutrient richness. Experimentally, the spatial form of Taylor's Law with a slope of 2 held for these simple bacterial communities, but competitive interactions between the two species did not reduce the spatial Taylor's Law slope. These results contribute to the widespread usefulness of Taylor's Law in population ecology, epidemiology and pest control.

Effects of marine reserves on predator-prey interactions in central California kelp forests

2020 ◽  
Vol 655 ◽  
pp. 139-155
Author(s):  
DC Yates ◽  
SI Lonhart ◽  
SL Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Marine Reserves ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Central California ◽  
Invertebrate Predators ◽  
Predatory Fishes ◽  
Density And Biomass

Marine reserves are often designed to increase density, biomass, size structure, and biodiversity by prohibiting extractive activities. However, the recovery of predators following the establishment of marine reserves and the consequent cessation of fishing may have indirect negative effects on prey populations by increasing prey mortality. We coupled field surveys with empirical predation assays (i.e. tethering experiments) inside and outside of 3 no-take marine reserves in kelp forests along the central California coast to quantify the strength of interactions between predatory fishes and their crustacean prey. Results indicated elevated densities and biomass of invertebrate predators inside marine reserves compared to nearby fished sites, but no significant differences in prey densities. The increased abundance of predators inside marine reserves translated to a significant increase in mortality of 2 species of decapod crustaceans, the dock shrimp Pandalus danae and the cryptic kelp crab Pugettia richii, in tethering experiments. Shrimp mortality rates were 4.6 times greater, while crab mortality rates were 7 times greater inside reserves. For both prey species, the time to 50% mortality was negatively associated with the density and biomass of invertebrate predators (i.e. higher mortality rates where predators were more abundant). Video analyses indicated that macro-invertivore fishes arrived 2 times faster to tethering arrays at sites inside marine reserves and began attacking tethered prey more rapidly. The results indicate that marine reserves can have direct and indirect effects on predators and their prey, respectively, and highlight the importance of considering species interactions in making management decisions.

Are local losses of biodiversity causing degraded ecosystem function?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Degraded Ecosystem ◽  
Biodiversity Change ◽  
Local Extirpation

This chapter highlights the scale dependence of biodiversity change over time and its consequences for arguments about the instrumental value of biodiversity. While biodiversity is in decline on a global scale, the temporal trends on regional and local scales include cases of biodiversity increase, no change, and decline. Environmental change, anthropogenic or otherwise, causes both local extirpation and colonization of species, and thus turnover in species composition, but not necessarily declines in biodiversity. In some situations, such as plants at the regional scale, human-mediated colonizations have greatly outnumbered extinctions, thus causing a marked increase in species richness. Since the potential influence of biodiversity on ecosystem function and services is mediated to a large degree by local or neighborhood species interactions, these results challenge the generality of the argument that biodiversity loss is putting at risk the ecosystem service benefits people receive from nature.

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