Acta Biotheoretica 

About: Acta Biotheoretica is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Philosophy of biology & Population. It has an ISSN identifier of 0001-5342. Over the lifetime, 1257 publications have been published receiving 22218 citations.

On territorial behavior and other factors influencing habitat distribution in birds

Abstract: This example is provided so that non-theorists may see actual applications of the theory previously described. The Dickcissel sex ratio is employed as an indirect index of suitability. A sex ratio index was found to be correlated positively with density. This is consistent with the hypothesis that territorial behavior in the males of this species limits their density. This study provides a valid example of how the problem can be approached and offers a first step in the eventual identification of the role of territorial behavior in the habitat distribution of a common species.

A brief history of R0 and a recipe for its calculation.

Abstract: In this paper I present the genesis of R0 in demography, ecology and epidemiology, from embryo to its current adult form. I argue on why it has taken so long for the concept to mature in epidemiology when there were ample opportunities for cross-fertilisation from demography and ecology from where it reached adulthood fifty years earlier. Today, R0 is a more fully developed adult in epidemiology than in demography. In the final section I give an algorithm for its calculation in heterogeneous populations.

The value of fat reserves and the tradeoff between starvation and predation.

Abstract: It is shown that in a range of models, the probability that a forager dies from starvation is, to a good approximation, an exponential function of energy reserves Using a time and energy budget for a 19g passerine, we explore the consequences, in terms of starvation and predation, of various levels of energy reserves It is shown that there exists an optimal level L of reserves at which total mortality (starvation plus predation) is minimized L increases when the environment deteriorates as a result of a decrease in either temperature or mean gross gain or an increase in the mean search time The effect of combined deteriorations is greater than the sum of their individual effects At L, the probability of predation is much higher than the probability of starvation A simple analytic model suggests that this result will be fairly general, but also indicates conditions under which the result might not hold