Dynamics of Age- and Size-Structured Populations: Intraspecific Competition

Abstract

In most organisms different aged individuals differ in size and morphology. In some taxa the body weight of individuals within species spans 4 or more orders of magnitude (Werner and Gilliam 1984). The radical changes in morphology accompanying metamorphosis in organisms with complex life cycles is well known to all biologists. Such variation within a species will have important evolutionary and population dynamic consequences. In this chapter I will discuss the implications of such differences in size/morphology on the intensity of competition between age classes, and show that competition between age classes can have interesting population dynamic consequences.