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Predator-Prey Interactions

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.

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Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.

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Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Multi-predator effects produced by functionally distinct species vary with prey density.

Ben P Werling¹, David M Lowenstein, Cory S Straub

¹Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. werlingb@msu.edu

Journal of Insect Science (Online)

|September 11, 2012

Summary

Combining predator species enhances biological control of the Colorado potato beetle only at low prey densities. This suggests that predator diversity benefits pest suppression most when prey availability is limited.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Biological Control
Entomology

Background:

Resource partitioning among predator species can enhance pest suppression.
Prey density may influence the effectiveness of combining functionally diverse predators.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if functionally distinct predators improve Colorado potato beetle suppression at varying prey densities.
To determine the role of prey abundance in modulating the benefits of predator diversity.

Main Methods:

Compared predation rates of single predator species versus two functionally distinct species (lady beetle and soldier bug).
Experiment conducted at two different Colorado potato beetle densities in microcosms.
Assessed the impact of predator combinations on pest suppression.

Main Results:

Combining lady beetles and soldier bugs increased predation only at low Colorado potato beetle densities.
Predator competition may limit the benefits of functional diversity when prey is abundant.

Conclusions:

The synergistic effect of combining functionally diverse predators is dependent on prey availability.
Multiple predator species may offer superior biological control in prey-limited systems.