Abstract
PROF. V. C. WYNNE-EDWARDS has recently1 coined the term ‘natural conventions’ to refer to intraspecific checks on population density which keep the density below the level at which the population would overtax its food supply. He, in fact, maintains that this is the main function of the conventions and that this explains their origin. Territoriality, peck orders, visual and audial display (involved in density-dependent reproduction and migration), mortality from stress, and other phenomena are examples.
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References
Wynne-Edwards, V. C., Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1962).
Lack, D., The Natural Regulation of Animal Numbers, 270 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1954).
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VAN VALEN, L. An Origin for Some Natural Conventions. Nature 198, 605–606 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/198605a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/198605a0
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