Mobility and its sensitivity to fitness differences determine consumer–resource distributions

Jiao, J., Riotte-Lambert, L., Pilyugin, S. S., Gil, M. A. and Osenberg, C. W. (2020) Mobility and its sensitivity to fitness differences determine consumer–resource distributions. Royal Society Open Science, 7(6), 200247. (doi: 10.1098/rsos.200247) (PMID:32742692) (PMCID:PMC7353973)

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Abstract

An animal's movement rate (mobility) and its ability to perceive fitness gradients (fitness sensitivity) determine how well it can exploit resources. Previous models have examined mobility and fitness sensitivity separately and found that mobility, modelled as random movement, prevents animals from staying in high-quality patches, leading to a departure from an ideal free distribution (IFD). However, empirical work shows that animals with higher mobility can more effectively collect environmental information and better sense patch quality, especially when the environment is frequently changed by human activities. Here, we model, for the first time, this positive correlation between mobility and fitness sensitivity and measure its consequences for the populations of a consumer and its resource. In the absence of consumer demography, mobility alone had no effect on system equilibria, but a positive correlation between mobility and fitness sensitivity could produce an IFD. In the presence of consumer demography, lower levels of mobility prevented the system from approaching an IFD due to the mixing of consumers between patches. However, when positively correlated with fitness sensitivity, high mobility led to an IFD. Our study demonstrates that the expected covariation of animal movement attributes can drive broadly theorized consumer–resource patterns across space and time and could underlie the role of consumers in driving spatial heterogeneity in resource abundance.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was funded by the NSF (via OCE-1130359, DMS-1411853, the QSE3 IGERT Program: DGE-0801544, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship awarded to M.G.). J.J. was also funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). L.R.-L. was funded by a Newton International Fellowship from the Royal Society (grant no. NF161261) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant no. 794760).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Riotte-Lambert, Dr Louise
Authors: Jiao, J., Riotte-Lambert, L., Pilyugin, S. S., Gil, M. A., and Osenberg, C. W.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Journal Name:Royal Society Open Science
Publisher:The Royal Society
ISSN:2054-5703
ISSN (Online):2054-5703
Published Online:17 June 2020
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2020 The Authors
First Published:First published in Royal Society Open Science 7(6): 200247
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
Data DOI:10.6084/m9. figshare.c.5015324

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
173570Living apart together? The common biological determinants of space use patterns in animalsJason MatthiopoulosThe Royal Society (ROYSOC)NF161261Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
301817Unravellling the biological determinants of space use patterns in animalsJason MatthiopoulosEuropean Commission (EC)794760Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine