The Energetic Determination, Spatial Dispersion and Density Dependence of Myrmeleon Ant Lion Pits in Las Cruces, Costa Rica

摘要

The amount of space used by an organism is energetically determined. We utilized a population of ant lion larvae in Costa Rica to test allometric theories concerning the use of space by organisms and how different densities of individuals affect the use of space. The area of ant lion trapping pits scaled with mass to the three-quarters power, supporting allometric theory for sessile organisms. Our analyses also show that larger ant lion larvae show spatial repulsion and facultative density dependent pit-building strategies.