DeLong John P
School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
Biol Lett. 2014 Jun;10(6). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0261.
The parameters that drive population dynamics typically show a relationship with body size. By contrast, there is no theoretical or empirical support for a body-size dependence of mutual interference, which links foraging rates to consumer density. Here, I develop a model to predict that interference may be positively or negatively related to body size depending on how resource body size scales with consumer body size. Over a wide range of body sizes, however, the model predicts that interference will be body-size independent. This prediction was supported by a new dataset on interference and consumer body size. The stabilizing effect of intermediate interference therefore appears to be roughly constant across size, while the effect of body size on population dynamics is mediated through other parameters.
驱动种群动态的参数通常显示出与体型的关系。相比之下，相互干扰（它将觅食率与消费者密度联系起来）与体型相关这一观点缺乏理论或实证支持。在此，我构建了一个模型来预测，根据资源体型与消费者体型的缩放关系，干扰可能与体型呈正相关或负相关。然而，在广泛的体型范围内，该模型预测干扰将与体型无关。这一预测得到了一个关于干扰与消费者体型的新数据集的支持。因此，中等干扰的稳定作用在不同体型间似乎大致恒定，而体型对种群动态的影响则通过其他参数来介导。
