A sequential-arrivals model of territory acquisition II

Birds arrive sequentially at their breeding ground where the nest sites var y in value (measured by reproductive success). Each bird may choose a vacan t site or challenge an occupier for its site. In the latter case, the occup ier is presumed to be the more-likely winner; the loser incurs a cost and m ust go to a vacant site. In a previous paper (Broom et al., 1997, J. theor. Biol. 189, 257-272), we considered the optimal strategy. However, that opt imal strategy was complex and perhaps could not be realized in real bird po pulations, making possibly costly demands both perceptually and at the codi ng level. With this in mind we introduce certain restricted classes of stra tegy, and consider how populations might evolve. Computer simulations of va rious populations have been performed to model the competition amongst seve ral strategies in the presence of recurrent mutations. Certain combinations of strategies persisted and corresponded approximately to the ESSs found i n Broom et al. (1997). (C) 2000 Academic Press.