Revisiting the role of individual variability in population persistence and stability.

ABSTRACT: Populations often exhibit a pronounced degree of individual variability and this can be important when constructing ecological models. In this paper, we revisit the role of inter-individual variability in population persistence and stability under predation pressure. As a case study, we consider interactions between a structured population of zooplankton grazers and their predators. Unlike previous structured population models, which only consider variability of individuals according to the age or body size, we focus on physiological and behavioural structuring. We first experimentally demonstrate a high degree of variation of individual consumption rates in three dominant species of herbivorous copepods (Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus glacialis, Calanus euxinus) and show that this disparit

SUBMITTER: Morozov A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3732237 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature