Theoretical studies on the role of food exploitation for the competition of scaamble type

Summary A model was made to clarify the basic processes of competition to occur among larvae by the exploitation as defined by Bakker (1969). It was found that this model is applicable to the experimental results on the food exploitation among Droshophila larvae obtained by Bakker (1961). In the model the preimaginal stage is divided into two periods; T f which is the time that a group of larvae spends in exhausting the food after hatching, and T s which is the duration of the starvation period after T f . T f and then W l (larval body weight) just after the end of T f are decided by F s (amount of food supplied per larva at larval hatching) and F c (amount of food consumed per larva). T f affects on the onset of T s as well as R l (rate of decrease in the individual body weight during T s ). W a (weight of emerging adults) is gotten by a subtraction of R l from W l just after the end of T f , R e is affected directly by these components of W l and R l . As a result, W a and R e are expressed by functions of F s . This model confirmed that the food exploitation lead to the competition of scramble type. Finally it was suggested that there exist some strategies which prevent ill‐effects owing to the food exploitation.