Information use during movement regulates how fragmentation and loss of habitat affect body size.

ABSTRACT: An individual's body size is central to its behaviour and physiology, and tightly linked to its movement ability. The spatial arrangement of resources and a consumer's capacity to locate them are therefore expected to exert strong selection on consumer body size. We investigated the evolutionary impact of both the fragmentation and loss of habitat on consumer body size and its feedback effects on resource distribution, under varying levels of information used during habitat choice. We developed a mechanistic, individual-based, spatially explicit model, including several allometric rules for key consumer traits. Our model reveals that as resources become more fragmented and scarce, informed habitat choice selects for larger body sizes while random habitat choice promotes small sizes. Inform

SUBMITTER: Hillaert J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6111160 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature