2025/07/16 by Daniel J. Smith, Joanna Masel · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Social Sciences · #Biology #Business #Competition (biology) #Competition model #Computer science #Ecology #Economic geography #Economics #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Interference (communication) #Market economy #Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models #Resource (disambiguation) #Telecommunications #Welfare
paper · doi:10.1086/737628
published in The American Naturalist 206(5), E78-E94 (University of Chicago Press)
openalex publication_date 2025/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Many ecological models treat exploitative competition in isolation from interference competition. Corresponding theory centers around the R* rule, according to which consumers that share a single limiting resource cannot coexist. Here we model motile consumers that directly interfere while handling resources, mechanistically capturing both exploitative and interference competition. Our analytical coexistence conditions show that interference competition readily promotes coexistence. In contrast to previous theory, coexistence does not require intraspecific interference propensities to exceed interspecific interference propensities or for interference behaviors to carry a direct (rather than merely an opportunity) cost. The underlying mechanism of coexistence can resemble the hawk-dove game, the dominance-discovery trade-off (akin to the competition-colonization trade-off), or a novel trade-off we call the “dove-discovery trade-off,” depending on parameter values. Competitive exclusion via the R* rule occurs only when differences in exploitative abilities swamp other differences between species, and it occurs more easily when differences in R* reflect different search speeds than when they reflect different handling times. Our model provides a mathematically tractable framework that integrates exploitative and interference competition and synthesizes previous disparate models.