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A review of competitive resource sharing under constraints in sticklebacks
Author(s) -
Milinski M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1986.tb04994.x
Subject(s) - gasterosteus , biology , stickleback , predation , competition (biology) , tubifex , ecology , resource (disambiguation) , competitor analysis , zoology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , business , marketing , computer network , computer science
The best strategy for an animal competing intraspecifically for food depends on its relative competitive ability, its needs, and on the strategies its competitors are using. Three different investigations using threespined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus , as predators and Daphnia or Tubifex worms as prey are reviewed: (1) six sticklebacks differing in competitive ability compete for two food patches, of which one is twice as profitable as the other; (2) two sticklebacks differing in competitive ability compete in one patch for two types of prey, of which one is three times as profitable as the other; (3) parasitised and healthy sticklebacks have to decide alone, and in competition with each other, how close they dare approach on their own to a live predator waiting close to profitable food. The best strategy from the point of view of the stickleback is different from that of its parasite. The two parasite species studied, Schistocephalus solidus and Glugea anomala, ought to influence their host's behaviour in opposite directions.