Ecological opportunity and upward prey-predator radiation cascades

摘要

Model illustration. Top consumers ( ) with some trait z (e.g. birds of prey with body size z) and competitive prey ( ) with trait u (e.g. granivorous birds with beak size u) that interact in a local habitat ( ) defined by some implicit resource distribution with peak abundance as uopt and width σK. The three trophic levels are distributed on the same trait dimension (e.g. size) here illustrated by color. Competition between species is dictated by their niche width (black and gray Gaussian kernels), and I assume that populations with similar traits interact more than less similar ones. The invasion fitness of a mutant is thus a function of its trait-matching to its resources, the traits of its competitors on the same trophic level and their niche widths. Image created in Adobe Illustrator CS6 Version 16.0.0 (64-bit).