Now we incorporate the competition effect. |
First, competition
occurs between pairs of animals: |
two fish trying to catch the same insect, |
two lions trying to bring down the same wildebeest, |
two catepillars trying to
eat the same blade of grass, |
two students competing for the only A in the
class (just kidding ... maybe). |
|
If C stands for the
competition factor, the population model becomes |
Pn+1 = (1 + B - D)⋅Pn - C⋅(number of competitive pairs). |
So how many competitive pairs are in a population of N animals? |
For example, suppose the population consists of eight animals. |
Animal 1 can compete with animal 2, with animal 3, ..., with animal 8. |
Animal 1 cannot compete with itself, so
there are seven competitive pairs involving animal 1. |
These are colored red in the chart. |
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