Specialized Feeding Modes Promote Coexistence of Competing Herbivores: Insights from a Metabolic Pool Model

摘要: Competition theory suggests that a single resource should support one consumer species. However, competitive exclusion may be relaxed by periodic disturbances, temporal or spatial segregation of consumers, fine-scale partitioning. This last mechanism especially common for competing phytophagous insects. Unlike many predators, herbivores rarely consume their entire prey item and often have specialized feeding modes on specific plant parts. Thus, different herbivore guilds “avoid” each other, thereby facilitating coexistence. I analyzed simplified metabolic pool model includes two types: “leaf chewer” “phloem feeder.” Phytophagous insects with the same mode never coexisted, but coexist stably—depending productivity carbohydrate pool, allocation to vegetative biomass, defoliation rate. Differences in are equivalent fine scale partitioning, potentially within individual plant. addition physiological detail changes predictions simple competition models is relevant weed biocontrol informing decisions which agents introduce.