Speaker
Description
Intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can be important for population performance in a variable and changing environment because individuals with different traits have different fitness consequences in different environments. Furthermore, individuals can potentially improve their fitness by interacting with their environment, for example, by performing niche choice and moving to a different patch with more favorable conditions. This becomes important when modelling predator-prey dynamics. For example, to come up with the best strategy for pest control (when movement of predators is affected by pest prey availability), or establishing protected areas (when predators migrating out of the protected area may be beneficial for commercial harvesting industries). In this talk, we show a model incorporating ITV and niche choice in a patchy and changing environment to investigate how they affect predator-prey dynamics. We use individual-based model and an analytical approximation by ODEs to quantify the effects of ITV and niche choice on the population persistence of both predator and prey. This can provide insight into the interplay between ITV and niche choice, sometimes ignored by existing models, and lead to a better understanding of how these mechanisms can buffer populations against environmental change.
