A Study on Lampreys Population Based on Sex-Ratio-Related Growth-Balance Model

TL;DR

This study develops models to analyze how sex ratio and food availability influence lamprey population dynamics, incorporating adaptive sex ratio changes and environmental disruptions, with implications for other species exhibiting sex-based consumption differences.

Contribution

Introduces the EcoSexChange (ESC) and SRAEI models to simulate lamprey population growth and stability considering sex ratio adaptation and environmental factors.

Findings

Population initially increases then stabilizes under the model.

Sex ratio adjustment impacts population resilience.

Disasters cause significant fluctuations in population dynamics.

Abstract

Lampreys are one of the oldest species in the world, living longer than dinosaurs, which is related to the ability to change the sex ratio during their lifespan. In this paper, to understand how sex ratio and food quantity affect the population growth rate of lampreys, the researchers draw inspiration from the logistics model and established a model called EcoSexChange(ESC), which results in a population initially increasing and then stabilizing, a reasonable outcome that may apply to other organisms with significant differences in consumption between sexes. Subsequently, this paper develops the Sex Ratio Adaptation Eco Impact (SRAEI) model based on the ESC model using the ABM algorithm to simulate how the population of lampreys, whose lives are divided into seven stages, grows and stabilizes. Then introduces a sudden disaster factor in the middle of the simulation, while also comparing lampreys that cannot adjust their sex ratio. The results of this paper are of great reference significance for people to analyze the population changes of lampreys in different living environments, and they are also easy to apply to other species with large differences between males and females.