Collected reprints: Abstract 3562
Collected reprints
Abstract
Heip, C. (1977). On the evolution of reproductive potentials in a brackish water meiobenthic community. Mikrofauna Meeresboden 61: 105-112
The realized and intrinsic rates of increase of several meiobenthic populations are compared. The realized rate of increase is remarkably similar among four species of copepods, which leads to the conclusion that dominance is not a function of rate of increase or parameters influencing this rate. The result is investigated in the light of Vandermeer's (1975) Beta-competition. There is also a remarkable agreement between the values of the predator Protohydra leuckarti and its principal prey Tachidius discipes.
The intrinsic rates of natural increase vary more, but are a linear function of temperature in all species investigated. This is in agreement with the theory that natural selection acts against nonlinear dynamic characteristics (Patten 1975).
The low intrinsic rate of increase of the nematode Oncholaimus oxyuris may be the result of a group selection process.
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