Energetic constraints on the diet of terrestrial carnivores

Species in the mammalian order Carnivora exhibit a huge diversity of life histories with body sizes spanning more than three orders of magnitude. Despite this diversity, most terrestrial carnivores can be classified as either feeding on invertebrates and small vertebrates or on large vertebrates. Small carnivores feed predominantly on invertebrates probably because they are a superabundant resource (sometimes 90% of animal biomass); however, intake rates of invertebrate feeders are low, about one tenth of those of vertebrate feeders. Although small carnivores can subsist on this diet because of low absolute energy requirements, invertebrate feeding appears to be unsustainable for larger carnivores. Here we show, by reviewing the most common live prey in carnivore diets, that there is a striking transition from feeding on small prey (less than half of predator mass) to large prey (near predator mass), occurring at predator masses of 21.5-25 kg. We test the hypothesis that this dichotomy is the consequence of mass-related energetic requirements and we determine the predicted maximum mass that an invertebrate diet can sustain. Using a simple energetic model and known invertebrate intake rates, we predict a maximum sustainable mass of 21.5 kg, which matches the point where predators shift from small to large prey.     

Excess digestive capacity in predators reflects a life of feast and famine

A central challenge for predators is achieving positive energy balance when prey are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. Ecological heterogeneity produces evolutionary trade-offs in the physiological design of predators; this is because the ability to capitalize on pulses of food abundance requires high capacity for food-processing, yet maintaining such capacity imposes energetic costs that are taxing during periods of food scarcity. Recent advances in physiology show that when variation in foraging opportunities is predictable, animals may adjust energetic trade-offs by rapidly modulating their digestive system to track variation in foraging opportunities. However, it is increasingly recognized that foraging opportunities for animals are unpredictable, which should favour animals that maintain a capacity for food-processing that exceeds average levels of consumption (loads). Despite this basic principle of quantitative evolutionary design, estimates of digestive load:capacity ratios in wild animals are virtually non-existent. Here we provide an extensive assessment of load:capacity ratios for the digestive systems of predators in the wild, compiling 639 estimates across 38 species of fish. We found that piscine predators typically maintain the physiological capacity to feed at daily rates 2-3 times higher than what they experience on average. A numerical simulation of the trade-off between food-processing capacity and metabolic cost suggests that the observed level of physiological opportunism is profitable only if predator-prey encounters, and thus predator energy budgets, are far more variable in nature than currently assumed.     

基于几何速度稳定性的最优觅食微粒群算法

最优觅食微粒群算法是一种高效的改进微粒群算法,该算法通过引入动物的最优觅食策略,较为真实地模拟了动物的觅食行为。利用几何速度稳定性分析了最优觅食微粒群算法的稳定性,给出了稳定性条件。为验证其性能,选取了5个典型测试函数,仿真结果证明了该策略的有效性。     

一类具有资源保护的食饵-捕食者模型

讨论一类食饵种群分布在两个斑块的食饵-捕食模型正平衡点的存在性、局部渐近稳定性和全局渐近稳定性,并应用Pontryagin最大值原理研究其最优捕获策略.     

食虫有袋类食性选择与猎物质量的相互关系

食虫有袋类是捕食多种昆虫的泛食性动物．同域的不同食虫有袋类同样选择鞘翅目、蜚蠊目、直翅目和膜翅目昆虫作为主要猎物但对同种昆虫猎物的捕食频率明显不同．食虫有袋类的食性具有季节转变现象．不同猎物昆虫质量之间的差异大多不显著但猎物昆虫的质量具有季节变化．食虫有袋类的食性选择与猎物质量、食性季节转变与猎物质量季节变化之间不存在显著相关关系．根据该结果以及最佳摄食理论,食性选择有可能受猎物可获得量或猎物体形大小的影响,值得今后进一步加以研究．     

一类含对流项的反应扩散捕食模型正解的存在性

本文研究了一个含对流项的反应扩散捕食模型正解的存在性,该模型描述了两物种间的捕食关系及捕食者选择在远离高密度食饵区捕猎的倾向. 基于模型正解的先验估计, 本文利用特征值理论和齐次化理论获得了模型正解关于两物种增长率的不存在性,然后利用分岔理论获得了模型正解在某些参数条件下的存在性.     

一类带负交叉扩散项二维系统的空间Turing斑图

考虑一类带负交叉扩散项二维系统的Turing斑图生成及其选择问题.先利用稳定性理论和Hopf分支理论得到Turing斑图的存在区域,再利用多重尺度分析法推导系统的振幅方程,并给出Turing斑图的选择结果.最后考虑一个具有比率依赖的Holling-Tanner捕食模型生态系统,利用MATLAB软件对该模型的斑图生成及选择结果进行数值模拟,得到了包括点状、条状以及二者共存等不同类型的Turing斑图.     

带有脉冲的捕食与被捕食系统的周期解

通过对具有周期系数的Lotka-Volterra捕食与被捕食系统旋加外界的干涉,得到了带有脉冲的捕食与捕食系统,利用拓扑宽理论研究了在脉冲条件下这种系统的周期解,通过适量地增加食饵和达度地减少捕食者的数量,找到了先验界,定义了一个新的Fredholm算子,得到了脉冲捕食系统周期解存在的充分条件。     

Coexistence of two sympatric and mOrpho1ogically similar bat species Rhinolophus affnis and Rhinolophus pearsoni

Ecologists have long focused on the coexistence of sympatric species.Here,we investigated two horseshoe bat species,Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus pearsoni inhabited in the same cave,for their foraging strategies,niche differentiation,prey selection,and their coexistence status.These two species of horseshoe bats were ditierent in the dominant frequency of their echolocation calls.but similar in their morphology.We found evidence for prey selectivity although there was a high degree of overlap in prey categories and sizes.R affinis and R pearsoni foraged on 16 and 7 categories insects,respectively,with Pyralidae,Geometridae,Melolonthidae dominating their diets.The degree of trophic niche overlap was 0.69.Pairwise comparisons suggested that there was no obvious differentiation in prey categories and size.However,high prey availability in the environment(Simpson diversity index=0.79 and Margalef richness index=4.121 contributed to their coexistence by dampening the interspecific competition.Since there are one or more mechanisms facilitating species coexistence in a community,our results suggest that the spatial niche differentiation in foraging microhabitats and in foraging habitats at landscape scale may promote the coexistence of the two bat species.However,additional field data are needed to confirm this speculation.     

一类食饵捕食者模型的渐近性态

研究了一类带周期系数的阶段结构的食饵-捕食者模型的渐近性态。利用比较原理和泛函数微分方程定理建立了种群一致持续生存的条件，并得到了正周期解的存在性。     

Coexistence of two sympatric and morphologically similar bat species Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus pearsoni

Ecologists have long focused on the coexistence of sympatric species. Here, we investigated two horseshoe bat species, Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus pearsoni inhabited in the same cave, for their foraging strategies, niche differentiation, prey selection, and their coexistence status. These two species of horseshoe bats were different in the dominant frequency of their echolocation calls, but similar in their morphology. We found evidence for prey selectivity although there was a high degree of overlap in prey categories and sizes. R. affinis and R. pearsoni foraged on 16 and 7 categories insects, respectively, with Pyralidae, Geometridae, Melolonthidae dominating their diets. The degree of trophic niche overlap was 0.69. Pairwise comparisons suggested that there was no obvious differentiation in prey categories and size. However, high prey availability in the environment （Simpson diversity index = 0.79 and Margalef richness index = 4.12） contributed to their coexistence by dampening the interspecific competition. Since there are one or more mechanisms facil- itating species coexistence in a community, our results suggest that the spatial niche differentiation in foraging rnicrohabitats and in foraging habitats at landscape scale may promote the coexistence of the two bat species. However, additional field data are needed to confirm this speculation.     

具无限时滞和非单调功能性反应捕食系统的多周期解

利用重合度理论中的延拓定理,研究一类具有无限时滞和非单调功能性反应的捕食者-食饵系统正周期解的存在性,得到了两个有界开集和至少存在两个周期正解的充分条件.结果表明,当食饵群负载容纳量和捕食者种群增长率均足够大时,系统将产生生物性多周期振荡。     

Coexistence of two sympatric and morphologically similar bat species Rhinolophus affinis and Rhinolophus pearsoni

Ecologists have long focused on the coexistence of sympatric species. Here, we investigated two horseshoe bat species, Rhinolophus affinis and R. pearsoni inhabited in the same cave, for their foraging strategies, niche differentiation, prey selection, and their coexistence status. These two species of horseshoe bats were different in the dominant frequency of their echolocation calls but similar in their morphology. We found evidence for prey selectivity although there was a high degree of overlap in prey categories and sizes. R. affinis and R. pearsoni foraged on 16 and 7 categories insects, respectively, with Pyralidae, Geometridae, Melolonthidae dominating their diets. The degree of trophic niche overlap was 0.69. Pairwise comparisons suggested that there was no obvious differentiation in prey categories and size. However, high prey availability in the environment (Simpson diversity index = 0.79 and Margalef richness index ＝ 4.12) contributed to their coexistence by dampening the interspecific competition. Since there are one or more mechanisms facilitating species coexistence in a community, our results suggest that the spatial niche differentiation in foraging microhabitats and in foraging habitats at landscape scale may promote the coexistence of the two bat species. However, additional field data are needed to confirm this speculation.     

具有年龄结构和相互作用的种群系统的Pontryagin原理（Ⅱ）：固定时间问题

作者研究了具有年龄结构和相互作用的捕食系统的最优控制问题,状态系统模型由偏微分-积分方程组描述,控制变量为个体出生率.应用Dubovitskii-Milyutin泛函分析方法,作者导出了自由终端状态、无穷时间和具有终态约束集的最优控制策略需要满足的必要条件.     

阶段结构捕食系统的最优收获策略

在生物经济即可更新资源管理中，捕食系统起着非常重要的作用。本文建立一个具阶段结构和捕食关系的两种群生物经济模型，分别获得了一个或两个种群绝灭和两种群持久生存的充分必要条件，也获得了保持生态环境持续发展的最优收获策略和收获成年种群的阈值，并给出了所得结果的实际意义。     

具一般时滞离散捕食-被捕食系统的四个正周期解

文章利用重合度理论中的延拓定理,得到一类具一般时滞离散捕食-被捕食系统四正周期解的存在性的充分条件。     

依赖比率的捕食被捕食系统的全局分析:捕食与被捕食者均有密度制约的情况

近年来依赖比率的捕食与被捕食模型已引起了生态学者和生物数学研究者的密切注意，这是因为它们比传统的模型更加接近实际情形．本文研究了依赖比率的捕食与被捕食系统的全局定性性态，这里捕食与被捕食者均为密度制约的．     

Strategy for rapid immobilization of prey by a fish-hunting marine snail

Some venomous animals capture prey with remarkable efficiency and speed. The purple cone, Conus purpurascens, uses two parallel physiological mechanisms requiring multiple neurotoxins to immobilize fish rapidly: neuromuscular block, and excitotoxic shock. The latter requires the newly characterized peptide kappa-conotoxin PVIIA, which inhibits the Shaker potassium channel 2-4, and beta-conotoxin PVIA5, which delays sodium-channel inactivation. Despite the extreme biochemical diversity in venoms, the number of effective strategic alternatives for prey capture are limited. How securely prey is initially tethered may strongly influence the venom strategy evolved by a predator.     

一类带交叉扩散项的食饵-捕食系统的正解的存在性

 利用Crandall-Rabinowitz 分歧理论,研究了一类带有交叉扩散项的食饵-捕食系统的正解的存在性。     

Scaling laws of marine predator search behaviour

Many free-ranging predators have to make foraging decisions with little, if any, knowledge of present resource distribution and availability. The optimal search strategy they should use to maximize encounter rates with prey in heterogeneous natural environments remains a largely unresolved issue in ecology. Lévy walks are specialized random walks giving rise to fractal movement trajectories that may represent an optimal solution for searching complex landscapes. However, the adaptive significance of this putative strategy in response to natural prey distributions remains untested. Here we analyse over a million movement displacements recorded from animal-attached electronic tags to show that diverse marine predators-sharks, bony fishes, sea turtles and penguins-exhibit Lévy-walk-like behaviour close to a theoretical optimum. Prey density distributions also display Lévy-like fractal patterns, suggesting response movements by predators to prey distributions. Simulations show that predators have higher encounter rates when adopting Lévy-type foraging in natural-like prey fields compared with purely random landscapes. This is consistent with the hypothesis that observed search patterns are adapted to observed statistical patterns of the landscape. This may explain why Lévy-like behaviour seems to be widespread among diverse organisms, from microbes to humans, as a 'rule' that evolved in response to patchy resource distributions.