Evolution of dispersal in a predator-prey metacommunity

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Theoretical Ecology

Background:

• Species persistence in fragmented habitats relies on dispersal.
• Increased local extinctions typically drive stronger selection for dispersal.
• Predator-prey dynamics can influence local extinction rates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how predator-prey interactions affect the evolution of dispersal in a metacommunity.
• To determine the impact of increasing local extinctions, driven by predator-prey dynamics, on dispersal strategies of both predator and prey species.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of a predator-prey metacommunity.
• Analysis of evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) dispersal rates under varying extinction pressures.
• Examination of spatial scale effects on predator-prey interactions and dispersal evolution.

Main Results:

• Predator ESS dispersal rates increased monotonically with higher predator-induced local extinctions.
• Prey ESS dispersal rates exhibited a nonmonotonic response, decreasing over a range of increased predator-induced extinctions.
• These results were linked to how local extinction drivers modified interactions at the metacommunity scale.

Conclusions:

• Predator-prey interactions introduce complex, non-intuitive evolutionary pressures on dispersal.
• The spatial scale at which interactions occur is critical for understanding the evolution of dispersal in metacommunities.
• Theoretical models are essential for predicting species' responses to environmental changes and ecological interactions.