Adaptive evolution of life history strategies related to maturation time in seasonal environment

Abstract

Maturation time plays an important role on life history evolution because of its great influence on reproduction and body size. To study the optimal life history strategy determined by maturation time in detail, a competitive mathematical model with two populations in a seasonal environment is established and analyzed. Firstly, the dynamic behaviors of the population model are investigated by stability analysis and using the theory of monotone dynamical systems. There are four possible dynamic outcomes of the competition model namely extinction, competitive exclusion, competitive coexistence and bistability. Further, the influences of seasonality on the competition results are discussed. Secondly, the evolution of maturation time is studied via adaptive dynamics theory. Evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) of maturation time is shown to be local and also convergent stable strategy (CSS). And the results reveal that the ESS is different from the strategy of maximum fitness of invasive population. Finally, by using numerical simulations, it is shown that seasonality has an important influence on the mature strategy. The ESS will decrease with production season length elongating along the direction of growth rate declining, and it would not cross the maximum fitness strategy.