Fast food restaurants form a guild:  a group of potentially competing species;  sympatric, utilizing the same resource, similar in morphology and behavior

similar "adaptive syndrome"

• morphologically similar (counter service, plastic seats and tables, playgrounds, etc)

• drive-thrus, hours of operation, habitat preferences

• fast, cheap, finger food (meals for two weeks without ever touching silverware or eating in the same place twice)

similar resource requirements -- $$;

They function as filter feeders:  they are sessile and draw in potential resource-holding particles from the environment

survival and RS limited by ability to gather resources

Under these conditions (niche overlap) we expect interspecific competition and manifestations of it
 
 

Manifestations of competition:

Niche partitioning or character displacement

 major axis of diversification:  "feeding niche" = menu offerings

 five major thrusts of adaptation (adaptive radiation)
  a) hamburger generalists
  b) sandwich generalists
  c) chicken specialists
  d) tex-mex specialists
  e) seafood specialists

 clear separation in menu offerings especially among latter three species groups

 high overlap however within these types, relatively low species diversity

 high overlap among hamburger and sandwich generalists --
 but also high species diversity

 this is a paradox -- how can this occur

 Arbys is a sandwich specialist --
 no burgers, relatively few kinds of sandwiches
 narrow "niche breadth", relatively low overlap with other species

Hardees and Jack-in-the-Box are hamburger/sandwich generalists --
high overlap with each other and with hamburger generalists
these species tend to be allopatric.  overlap is too high to permit coexistence
competitive exclusion, local extinction

second manifestation:  actual active competition

 The big three:  MCD, BK, WEN:  hamburger generalists -- high overlap

 a)  several things are happening in this species group

began (phylogenetically -- see later) as hamburger specialists with niche breadth restriction
we are now in a rebound phase of menu broadening and diversification; this is an attempt to gather resources away from their competitors
  ie: breakfasts, salads, sandwiches, chicken nuggets (parts is parts)
  ie: mcrib, chicken fajita, burger buddies

Wendy's has diversified more than MCD and BK:

less overlap with them so less potential for competition

? perhaps resources are not limiting;  there are plenty of dollars to go around

 probably never true under the conditions that exist today
 high species diversity and large population sizes of ffrs mean great demand for resources

 ffrs also must share resources with other types of restaurants

 RS of ffrs directly related to resource gathering ability

 with high overlap and resource limitation, we expect species to compete
  What are the burger places (MCD and BK) doing?

 scant data on these two:

NUMBER OF FRANCHISES

McDonald's  8901
Burger King  4225

REVENUES (in millions)

McD  3761  

BK 1410  

PROFITS

McD 433 (11.5%)

BK 221 (15.7%)

ADVERTISING

McD 686 (18.2%)

 BK 251 (17.8%)

 an extremely large proportion of total resources accumulated goes to main competitive activity

 we as resource bearing units are inundated with attempts to lure us in
 

There is niche partitioning and also active competition in this guild
 
 

What is the phylogenetic history of the fast food restaurant guild?

The common ancestor of the ffrs was the hamburger stand:
 "primitive" characteristics:
  broad menu, no inside seating, carhop service

 relict populations can still be found:  del rancho, colemans

The next step:  hamburger specialist drive in:

relatively narrow menu, but other characters primitive:  no inside seating, carhop service
sonic is a species that resembles this ancestral state

Selection pressures on this ancestor:

Post WWII, large increase in population size of resource units, large increase in mobility, decrease in time for meal preparation:  working parents

From hamburger drive-in generalist:  Hamburger specialist:

This was a crucial step in the adaptive radiation of FFRs:

The first McDonalds opened in San Bernardino CA in 1948;  bought out/franchised by Ray Kroc in 1954, second McD opened in Des Plaines, IL 1955, mushroomed from there

From hamburger specialist, a large adaptive radiation occurred through niche partitioning and specialization, "species packing", which led to current species diversity of ffrs.

Competition acts to affect the number and kind of species that exist in a community. Increases species diversity through adaptive evolution, divergent evolution to avoid niche overlap among sympatric, phylogenetically closely related species.