TY - JOUR
T1 - Stochastic variation in food availability influences weight and age at maturity
AU - Tenhumberg, Brigitte
AU - Tyre, Andrew J.
AU - Roitberg, Bernie
N1 - Funding Information:
Early versions of this manuscript bene"ted from constructive comments by the Roitberg Lab Group at Simon Fraser University, in particular, Mike Robinson, Ian Robertson, and Rob McGregor. Colin Clark, Derek Ro!, Hugh Possingham, members of the PHLEgM discussion group at the University of Adelaide, and three anonymous reviewers also provided helpful comment. This work was supported by a Postdoctoral Research Award from the DFG to BT, by an NSERC PGS A award to AJT, and by an NSERC operating grant to BDR.
PY - 2000/2/21
Y1 - 2000/2/21
N2 - Variation in mean food availability, and in the variance around the mean, affects the growth rate during development. Previous theoretical work on the influence of environmental quality or growth rates on the phenotypic traits age and size at maturation assumed that there is no variation in growth rate or food availability within a generation. We develop a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model of the foraging behaviour of aphidophagous syrphids, and use this model to predict when syrphids should pupate (mature) when average food availability changes, or varies stochastically, during development. The optimal strategy takes into account not only the availability of food, but also the timing of its availability. Food availability, when small, influences developmental time, but not weight at pupation. Food availability, when large, influences weight at pupation, but not developmental time. When the food supply is low, the optimal strategy adjusts the size at pupation downwards for stochastic as opposed to deterministic availability of food. The conclusions reinforce the need for life-history studies to consider state dependence and short-term variability in growth rates. (C) 2000 Academic Press.
AB - Variation in mean food availability, and in the variance around the mean, affects the growth rate during development. Previous theoretical work on the influence of environmental quality or growth rates on the phenotypic traits age and size at maturation assumed that there is no variation in growth rate or food availability within a generation. We develop a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model of the foraging behaviour of aphidophagous syrphids, and use this model to predict when syrphids should pupate (mature) when average food availability changes, or varies stochastically, during development. The optimal strategy takes into account not only the availability of food, but also the timing of its availability. Food availability, when small, influences developmental time, but not weight at pupation. Food availability, when large, influences weight at pupation, but not developmental time. When the food supply is low, the optimal strategy adjusts the size at pupation downwards for stochastic as opposed to deterministic availability of food. The conclusions reinforce the need for life-history studies to consider state dependence and short-term variability in growth rates. (C) 2000 Academic Press.
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U2 - 10.1006/jtbi.1999.1049
DO - 10.1006/jtbi.1999.1049
M3 - Article
C2 - 10666359
AN - SCOPUS:0034695922
SN - 0022-5193
VL - 202
SP - 257
EP - 272
JO - Journal of Theoretical Biology
JF - Journal of Theoretical Biology
IS - 4
ER -