Abstracts

Evolution of Species and Ecosystems: Theoretical Analysis and Computer-Assisted Modeling

A simple model describing optimal foraging in fish generates a bifurcation when the best feeding strategy is evaluated at different food concentrations. At low concentrations the optimal swimming speed, defined as the speed which corresponds to the highest growth efficiency, increases with food concentration since the more food there is, the greater the return on the energy expended pursuing it. At high food concentrations however there are two equally good strategies, one to feed rapaciously and expend large amounts of energy on finding food, which is effective since the amount of food available justifies the energetic expenditure, while the other strategy is to slow down and become an ambush predator, since there is lots of food to be found even without spending much energy looking for it. Both strategies are optimal, in that they correspond to the same growth efficiency, so under conditions of increasing food availability a single species may adapt by following either strategy, leading to the splitting of a single species into two.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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