Resource competition shapes biological rhythms and promotes temporal niche differentiation in a community simulation.

ABSTRACT: Competition for resources often contributes strongly to defining an organism's ecological niche. Endogenous biological rhythms are important adaptations to the temporal dimension of niches, but how other organisms influence such temporal niches has not been much studied, and the role of competition in particular has been even less examined. We investigated how interspecific competition and intraspecific competition for resources shape an organism's activity rhythms.To do this, we simulated communities of one or two species in an agent-based model. Individuals in the simulation move according to a circadian activity rhythm and compete for limited resources. Probability of reproduction is proportional to an individual's success in obtaining resources. Offspring may have variance in rhythm pa

SUBMITTER: Gao VD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7593148 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature