Analysing consequences of increased mortality in resource-consumer models

MATÍAS BLAUSTEIN; NICOLÁS FLAIBANI; JULIÁN MAXWELL; NICOLÁS LAVAGNINO; CONSTANZA SÁNCHEZ DE LA VEGA; CATALINA SIERRA; ALEJANDRA VENTURA

Congreso; IX Congreso de matemática aplicada, computacional e industrial; 2023

In this article, we consider a resource-consumer population model by means of a system of ordinarydifferential equations. Consumer population is stage-structured by considering three types of individuals: juvenile, adult and senior. Using this model, we find conditions for which an increase in the mortality of older individuals produces the paradoxical effect of increasing (rather than decreasing) the population size. On the contrary, in a context of cooperation, population size increases as mortality rates of older individuals decrease. We interpret this result in light of the ecological life history theory and consider the role of natural selection.