What is the ideal free distribution model?

In ecology, an ideal free distribution (IFD) is a theoretical way in which a population’s individuals distribute themselves among several patches of resources within their environment, in order to minimize resource competition and maximize fitness.

Who came up with ideal free distribution?

One model of habitat selection by conditional dispersal assumes active movement, such that all animals move around freely until they cannot do any better in terms of resource acquisition. The distribution thus produced is the ‘ideal free distribution’ of Fretwell and Lucas 1. Jr. 1970.

Why is ideal free distribution important?

The ideal free distribution provides a framework for extending foraging theory to cases in which animals forage in groups. The ideal free distribution considers how animals in a group should distribute themselves between two feeding sites.

What is ideal despotic distribution?

Ideal despotic distribution theory predicts that competition for territories should result in dominant residents occupying high quality areas while forcing weaker competitors into less favourable habitats (Fretwell 1972).

What are the assumptions of ideal free distribution?

According to the ideal free distribution hypothesis, the density of organisms is expected to remain constant across a range of habitat availability, provided that organisms are ideal, selecting habitat patches that maximize resource access, and free, implying no constraints associated with patch choice.

What can cause a population to be in a clumped distribution?

Clumped patterns usually occur when resources are concentrated in small areas within a larger habitat or because of individuals forming social groups. At large spatial scales most organisms appear to have clumped distributions because their habitats are not uniformly distributed over wide areas.

What is dispersal limitation?

Dispersal limitation: The mean probability of species occurring within a community decreases with increasing distance to the nearest site where conspecifics occur.

Is habitat density dependent?

The theory of density-dependent habitat selection assumes that an individual should occupy only that habitat in which its evolutionary fitness is maximized. The actual pattern of density among habitats will depend upon which of two modes of habitat selection is appropriate to the species being investigated.

What is the most common distribution of populations?

Clumped Clumped distribution
Clumped. Clumped distribution, also called aggregated distribution, clumped dispersion or patchiness, is the most common type of dispersion found in nature. In clumped distribution, the distance between neighboring individuals is minimized.

What are 3 factors that limit dispersal of a species?

Three factors that limit dispersal of a species are… physical barriers, competition, and climate. include water, mountains, deserts, and canyons. Because these barriers are hard for most organisms to cross, they limit the movement of organisms.