A spatially explicit model for competition among specialists and generalists in a heterogeneous environment

DOI10.1214/105051606000000394zbMATH Open1109.60084arXivmath/0610227OpenAlexW3101286367MaRDI QIDQ862210FDOQ862210

Authors: Claudia Neuhauser, N. Lanchier 

Publication date: 5 February 2007

Published in: The Annals of Applied Probability (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Competition is a major force in structuring ecological communities. The strength of competition can be measured using the concept of a niche. A niche comprises the set of requirements of an organism in terms of habitat, environment and functional role. The more niches overlap, the stronger competition is. The niche breadth is a measure of specialization: the smaller the niche space of an organism, the more specialized the organism is. It follows that, everything else being equal, generalists tend to be more competitive than specialists. In this paper, we compare the outcome of competition among generalists and specialists in a spatial versus a nonspatial habitat in a heterogeneous environment. Generalists can utilize the entire habitat, whereas specialists are restricted to their preferred habitat type. We find that although competitiveness decreases with specialization, specialists are more competitive in a spatial than in a nonspatial habitat as patchiness increases.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0610227

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zbMATH Keywords

multitype contact process in heterogeneous environment

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Interacting random processes; statistical mechanics type models; percolation theory (60K35) Interacting particle systems in time-dependent statistical mechanics (82C22)

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Cited In (10)

• Durrett-Levin spatial model of allelopathy
• Stable trimorphic coexistence in a lattice model of spatial competition with two site types
• Responses of generalist and specialist species to fragmented landscapes
• Contact and voter processes on the infinite percolation cluster as models of host-symbiont interactions
• Local interactions promote cooperation in cooperator-defector systems
• Coexistence for a multitype contact process with seasons
• Stochastic spatial models of host-pathogen and host-mutualist interactions. II
• Effects of spatial heterogeneity and homogeneity on an S-K-T competition model
• Metapopulation Allee effects, habitat destruction, and extinction in metacommunities
• Role of predation efficiency in prey-predator dynamics incorporating switching effect

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