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Updated: May 10, 2026
07:54
Field-Based Thermal Physiology Assay: Cold Shock Recovery under Ambient Conditions
Published on: March 9, 2021
Predator-prey interactions shape thermal patch use in a newt larvae-dragonfly nymph model.
Lumír Gvoždík1, Eva Černická, Raoul Van Damme
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology AS CR, Brno, Czech Republic. gvozdik@brno.cas.cz
Plos One
|June 12, 2013
Summary
Prey (newt larvae) adjust habitat use to avoid predators (dragonfly nymphs), spending less time in warm patches when predators are present. Predators, however, do not alter their thermal patch use based on prey availability, supporting the
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Habitat patch use in ectothermic prey is influenced by thermal quality and predation risk.
- The interplay between predator foraging needs, prey anti-predation strategies, and thermoregulation is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test predictions of the 'thermal game model' regarding predator-prey interactions and thermal patch selection.
- To investigate how predation risk affects prey thermoregulatory behavior and how predator foraging is influenced by prey availability.
Main Methods:
- Laboratory and artificial environment experiments were conducted.
- Thermal patch use of newt larvae (prey) and dragonfly nymphs (predators) was recorded.
- Predator starvation was implemented to test the effect of food requirements.
Main Results:
- Newt larvae reduced their time in warm patches when dragonfly nymphs were present.
- Dragonfly nymph patch use remained unaffected by prey availability, even when starved.
- Prey thermal strategies were more sensitive to predator presence than predator strategies were to prey availability.
Conclusions:
- Prey behavior is more strongly influenced by predation risk than predator behavior is by prey availability, aligning with the 'life-dinner' principle.
- Findings partially support the 'thermal game model', particularly regarding asymmetric influences in predator-prey dynamics.
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