Niche modification and stability of competitive systems. III. Simulation model analysis

Summary

Simulation model for niche shift in ecological time scale was constructed on the basis of the optimal foraging theory. In accordance with the previous experimental study (Shimada andFujii, 1985), the model competitive system consisted of 2 parasitoid wasp species utilizing 4 host stages. Wasps were assumed to choose host stages in the manner that they realized the maximal gain/cost values, where gain was represented by body weight of a wasp progeny emerging from each host stage and cost was expressed by time required to search for and detect an unparasitized host. The number of parasitized hosts in each host stage was calculated numerically by usingArditt's (1983) model for avoidance of superparasitism.

The model simulated well the experimental results ofShimada andFujii (1985) andShimada (1985). Sensitivity analysis of the model showed that the experimentally derived criterion for competitive coexistence (different second-best host stages between competing species even with the common best) was not necessarily the indispensable condition for niche shift and separation, but that if the criterion was not satisfied, stable competitive coexistence occurred only in the narrow range of the parametric values. Further, niche shift in ecological time scale made the competitive coexistence more stable than fixed niche on which the current niche theory stands.