Revisiting GUD: An empirical test of the size-dependency of patch departure behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Behaviour related to patch resource exploitation is a major determinant of individual fitness. Assuming the size-dependency of patch departure behaviour, model-based approaches have shown size-mediated coexistence in systems of competing species. However, experimental evidence for the influence of body size on patch use behaviour is scarce. In this study, we explore whether allometric principles provide an underlying framework for interspecific patterns of resource use. To this end, we propose a meso-cosm approach using three species of gastropods differing in size as a model system and 32P radio-isotopic techniques as a measure of resource use. Foragers of different size were placed in an artificial patch, provided with a limited amount of labelled resource and let them free to move as re

SUBMITTER: Cozzoli F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6160073 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature