Intraspecific competition and components of niche width in age structured populations (Q809022)

A model is presented and analyzed which describes the growth dynamics of a population consisting of age classes among which exploitative competition occurs. Food resources are assumed to be limited. The animals live for several time units and grow continuously in size until they die. Recruitment takes place at the end of each time unit, is strictly synchronized, and results in cohorts of age classes. The population dynamics and the stability of equilibria are analyzed by numerical simulation; a special case is treated analytically. It is shown that an increase in size-independent fecundity rates as well as a decrease in the density dependence of growth rates tends to stabilize the population dynamics, whereas an increase in the number of age classes may lead to a destabilization. In the present model, where death is assumed to occur continuously, chaos and cycles are less often observed than in comparable models with a discrete death process.