The nonlinearity of competitive effects in models of competition for essential resources (Q579166)

This paper considers some simple differential equation models of competition between two consumers for two resources. Such resources are characterized by the fact that a sufficient amount of each is required for population growth to occur. The author discusses the question of whether the linear competitive effects assumed in the Lotka-Volterra model of competition hold for a class of consumer-resource models. The results suggest conditions under which competitive effects will be approximately linear and also suggest the type of nonlinearities to be expected when effects are highly nonlinear. The Lotka-Volterra model is shown to be a poorer description of most cases of exploitative competition for essential resources than is implied by the models in \textit{G. D. Tilman} [Resource competition and community structure. Princeton (1982)].