Question

Simulate an environment with equal amounts of insects and seeds, but no fruit.
Which flock will be able to eat the most? The least? Why?

Answer 1

I’ll answer in two quick parts: the simple conclusion, then the caveats/why.

Simple answer
- The flock that can eat both insects and seeds (a generalist/omnivorous flock) will be able to eat the most.
- The fruit-only flock will eat the least (in this case, nothing), because there is no fruit.

Why
- A generalist that accepts both insects and seeds can exploit both resource pools, so it has access to twice the kinds of food available; unless excluded from those resources by stronger specialists, it can take more total food.
- Specialists (pure insectivores or pure granivores) each can only use one of the two available resources; with equal insect and seed quantities they will, in principle, get equal shares and do less than a generalist that can use both.
- A frugivore (fruit specialist) has no usable resource in this scenario, so it gets the least (zero).

Important caveats
- If specialists are much more efficient at handling their resource than the generalist, they can monopolize their resource and the generalist might not actually out-eat them (the generalist’s lower efficiency can offset its broader diet).
- Competitive dynamics, spatial/temporal overlap, and how quickly resources are renewed will affect actual intake amounts.
- If your simulation has different flock definitions than above, tell me which flocks you mean and I can give a tailored answer or run a numeric simulation.