A number of mechanisms are known to influence coexistence in small mammal communities. However, the role ofbehavioral interactions in promoting species coexistence is under-represented in the literature. We studied th...A number of mechanisms are known to influence coexistence in small mammal communities. However, the role ofbehavioral interactions in promoting species coexistence is under-represented in the literature. We studied the behavioral interactionsof two coexisting small mammals, the Namaqua rock mouse Micaelamys namaquensis (Rodentia) and the Rock sengi Elephantulusmyurus (Macroscelidae), which have high dietary and microhabitat overlap. Using wild-caught individuals, intra- andinterspecific dyadic encounters were staged in tanks on a neutral rocky outcrop. Interspecific dyads displayed significantly moreactive avoidance behavior. There was no support for the prediction that the larger, more specialist species, E. myurus, is behaviorallydominant over M. namaquensis. Intraspecific encounters of E. myurus showed significantly more passive avoidance andamicable behavior, whereas the behavior of M. namaquensis did not differ between intra- and inter-specific encounters, both ofwhich were characterized by low levels of aggression and amicability. Thus, due to the lack of aggression, direct competition appearsweak and instead mutual avoidance may reduce or minimize interspecific interactions, potentially promoting coexistence.展开更多
In the interaction between plants and herbivores that live in the same ecosystem, understanding the conditions in which co-existence equilibrium occurs answers a major question in Ecology. In this interaction, plants ...In the interaction between plants and herbivores that live in the same ecosystem, understanding the conditions in which co-existence equilibrium occurs answers a major question in Ecology. In this interaction, plants serve as food for herbivores on the food chain. Then the livelihood of herbivores highly depends on the availability of food, in this case the availability of plants. Moreover, the abundance of the plant density alone does not guarantee the non-extinction of the herbivore population as they are assumed to reproduce sexually. With this motivation, in this paper a predator-prey mathematical model is reformulated such that the death rate of the herbivore population is dependent on the plant density and their emergence is also governed by the Allee effect. Using the mathematical theory of dynamical system, threshold conditions are obtained for the non-extinction of the herbivore population and a trapping region is obtained to ensure co-existence of the population. Moreover, it has been shown that the dynamics of the population is significantly sensitive to the feeding rate and the harvest rate of the herbivore population.展开更多
基金provided by the National Research Foundation (Grant number:2069110)the University of the Witwatersrand
文摘A number of mechanisms are known to influence coexistence in small mammal communities. However, the role ofbehavioral interactions in promoting species coexistence is under-represented in the literature. We studied the behavioral interactionsof two coexisting small mammals, the Namaqua rock mouse Micaelamys namaquensis (Rodentia) and the Rock sengi Elephantulusmyurus (Macroscelidae), which have high dietary and microhabitat overlap. Using wild-caught individuals, intra- andinterspecific dyadic encounters were staged in tanks on a neutral rocky outcrop. Interspecific dyads displayed significantly moreactive avoidance behavior. There was no support for the prediction that the larger, more specialist species, E. myurus, is behaviorallydominant over M. namaquensis. Intraspecific encounters of E. myurus showed significantly more passive avoidance andamicable behavior, whereas the behavior of M. namaquensis did not differ between intra- and inter-specific encounters, both ofwhich were characterized by low levels of aggression and amicability. Thus, due to the lack of aggression, direct competition appearsweak and instead mutual avoidance may reduce or minimize interspecific interactions, potentially promoting coexistence.
文摘In the interaction between plants and herbivores that live in the same ecosystem, understanding the conditions in which co-existence equilibrium occurs answers a major question in Ecology. In this interaction, plants serve as food for herbivores on the food chain. Then the livelihood of herbivores highly depends on the availability of food, in this case the availability of plants. Moreover, the abundance of the plant density alone does not guarantee the non-extinction of the herbivore population as they are assumed to reproduce sexually. With this motivation, in this paper a predator-prey mathematical model is reformulated such that the death rate of the herbivore population is dependent on the plant density and their emergence is also governed by the Allee effect. Using the mathematical theory of dynamical system, threshold conditions are obtained for the non-extinction of the herbivore population and a trapping region is obtained to ensure co-existence of the population. Moreover, it has been shown that the dynamics of the population is significantly sensitive to the feeding rate and the harvest rate of the herbivore population.
