Maternal effects on offspring consumption can stabilize fluctuating predator-prey systems.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Population Dynamics
• Behavioral Ecology

Background:

• Maternal effects, where maternal environment influences offspring phenotype, are common but rarely integrated into population models.
• The 'paradox of enrichment' predicts population destabilization with increased resources, yet this is rarely observed in natural systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how a specific maternal effect, where maternal food availability impacts offspring feeding rates, influences predator-prey population dynamics.
• To explore whether this maternal effect can resolve the paradox of enrichment in ecological models.

Main Methods:

• Development of novel predator-prey models incorporating maternal effects on prey consumption rates.
• Analysis of model behavior under varying maternal prey availability and enrichment scenarios.

Main Results:

• Maternal effects on offspring feeding rates can stabilize predator-prey dynamics, counteracting destabilizing effects of enrichment.
• Enriched populations exhibiting this maternal effect showed reduced cycling and lower extinction risk.
• The models provide a potential explanation for the observed absence of the paradox of enrichment in wild populations.

Conclusions:

• Maternal effects play a crucial role in regulating population dynamics and can prevent theoretical predictions like the paradox of enrichment.
• Integrating maternal effects into population models is essential for accurate ecological predictions.
• This maternal effect offers a mechanism for increased population resilience against environmental changes and harvesting.