Summary
Experiments showed that larval competition for food is not always the result of decreases in the amount of food available per larva as population density increases. The feeding period during which the larvae try to attain the minimum survival weight may be restricted when food quantity is not limiting. The scramble type competition involves both exploitation and interference components, in degrees which vary with population density.
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Hughes, G. Larval competition in serially transferred populations of Drosophila melanogaster . Oecologia 45, 396–403 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00540213
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00540213