The Influence of the Distribution of Juveniles Over Patches of Food On the Dynamics of a Population

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Abstract
A model is presented of the dynamics of a population whose juveniles are localized in numerous small patches of juvenile food (say a leaf-eating larval stage of insects). Either adults or young juveniles disperse, adult dispersal implying the dispersal of ju- veniles as groups of eggs.-The dynamics of the population is described for several dis- tributions of dispersers over patches, and a density dependent viability of v = e-ci, as an example of density dependent viability functions that lead to a maximum in the number of emerging adults per patch.-The difference with the dynamics of a population with the same viability function in an undivided environment is con- siderable. Numerical stability is enhanced, more so for adult dispersal than for juvenile dispersal. Numerical stability depends upon the degree of subdivision of the food when the total amount of food is constant, but not upon the number of food patches when patch size is constant but the total amount of food variable.When adults disperse, an optimum fecundity exists, in contrast to the situation in an un- divided environment. The optimum fecundity does not necessarily imply numerical stability.

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