Boyd L. Dearden

A Computer Simulation of Dietary Competition Among Seven Consumers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Interactive feeding among a group of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was simulated. Consumer density, biomass production, consumer consumption rates, and seasonal food habits of adults of each species were calculated using field or literature values. The consumers included the European wild hog, black bear, raccoon, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, three sciurid species, and several rodents. The sciurids and rodents were considered as two respective canonical groups making a total ofseven consumer groups. Values of requisite parameters were allowed to vary...