title: Competition between phenotypes.
abstract: We present two models for phenotypic-dependent interspecific competition. In both cases the survivorship of individuals of one population depends on the entire phenotypic distribution of the other species. The first model considers a continuously varying metric trait, with assortative or random mating; the second model examines a character controlled by two alleles at a single locus. Pursuing the notion that each population maximizes its mean fitness we define a vector-optimum strategy using the concepts of cooperative and competitive optima. It is found that the dynamical constraints placed on the equations of motion by Mendelian genetics often prevent a population from evolving to a strategic optimum. However, for the single locus case with complete dominance, the competitive optimum always coincides with some dynamical equilibrium on the Hardy-Weinberg manifold.
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D004463:Ecology; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012641:Selection, Genetic