Model of microtine cycles caused by lethal toxins in non-preferred food plants.
A recent model of microtine cycles has hypothesized that plant chemical defences can drive the precipitous decline phase, through periodic lethal toxin production (PLTP) by non-preferred plant foods. Here we enumerate possible mechanisms using a previously published model of optimal foraging by one consumer (microtine rodent) of two types of food plant (1 preferred and 1 non-preferred). Rate constants for each of the model parameters were sought from the extensive literature on vole cycles. For a range of likely values of input parameters, we evaluated model fit by applying five empirically derived criteria for cyclic behaviour. These were: cycles with a period length of 2-5 yr, peak densities of 100-350 voles per ha and trough densities of 0-25 ha(-1), ratio of peak to trough densities of 10-100, and the occurrence of a catastrophic collapse in the vole population followed by a prolonged low phase. In contrast to previous models of food-induced microtine cycles, the optimal foraging model successfully reproduced the first four criteria and the prolonged low phase. The criterion of population collapse was met if the non-preferred food began producing lethal toxins at a threshold grazing intensity, as predicted by PLTP. Fewer criteria could be met in variations on the model, in which the non-preferred food was equally as nutritious as the preferred food or was continuously toxic.
Kent
Adam
A
School of Biological Sciences, Biodiversity and Ecology Division, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK.
Jensen
Susanne Plesner
SP
Doncaster
C Patrick
CP
D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005518:Food Preferences; D008954:Models, Biological; D010945:Plants, Edible; D010947:Plants, Toxic / Q000506:poisoning*; D011157:Population Dynamics