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OverviewMany associations between organisms, both intra-and interspecific, can be usefully regarded as 'producer/scrounger' (P/S) relationships. One or more individuals or species (scroungers) within the association in some way use the behavioural or physiological investment of others (pro ducers) to reduce their costs of obtaining a limited resource. Examples are legion: many parasites take up more or less permanent residence in or on a host individual and use the host's ingestive, digestive or circu latory processes to reduce their own feeding costs; pirate (ldepto parasitic) individuals or species exploit the foraging investment of 'host' individuals/species by stealing procured food; inter- and intraspecific brood parasites exploit the nest-building behaviour and parental care of other species/individuals; non-displaying 'satellite' males may usurp matings (ldeptogamy) from higher ranking males whose display effort has attracted females to a courtship gathering, and so on. Scroungers appear to reduce the costs of exploiting a resource by letting producers invest the necessary time and energy in foraging, building, incubating, displaying, defending, evolving anti-predator adaptations, etc. , and then usurping the results of their efforts. The utility of scrounging, however, is conditional on a number of factors including the availability of producers, the number of scroungers exploiting them, the cost of scrounging in terms of producer avoidance, defence and/or retaliation, the value of the limited resource and the scope for alternative strategies of resource exploitation. This book brings together theoretical and empirical studies of PIS relationships in a wide variety of contexts and species. Full Product DetailsAuthor: C. J. BarnardPublisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Imprint: Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Edition: Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1984 Dimensions: Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 21.60cm Weight: 0.399kg ISBN: 9781461597865ISBN 10: 1461597862 Pages: 303 Publication Date: 05 February 2012 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |