title: Alternative stable states in a stage-structured consumer-resource biomass model with niche shift and seasonal reproduction.
abstract: We formulate and analyze a stage-structured consumer-resource biomass model, in which consumers reproduce in a pulsed event at the beginning of a growing season and furthermore go through a niche shift during their life history. We show that the resulting semi-discrete model can exhibit two stable states that can be characterized as a development-controlled state and a reproduction-controlled state. Varying resource availabilities and varying the extent of the niche shift determines whether juveniles or adults are more limited by their resource(s) and can lead to switches between the alternative stable states. Furthermore, we quantify the persistence of the consumer population and the occurrence of the two alternative stable states as a function of resource availabilities and extent of the niche shift. All the results show that irrespective of the type of reproduction of the consumers (continuous or seasonal), the stage-structured model will exhibit alternative stable states as long as development of the juvenile stage and reproduction of the adult stage are both resource-dependent.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, 1090GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Z.Sun@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Zepeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94248, 1090GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: André M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: de Roos
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012098:Reproduction; D012621:Seasons
keywords: Alternative stable states; Consumer–resource interactions; Ontogenetic niche shift; Seasonal reproduction; Semi-discrete dynamics; Stage-structured biomass model