Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 16, 2025
10:20
Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter
Published on: March 12, 2013
13.8K
The uneasy coexistence of predators and pathogens
Andreas Eilersen1, Kim Sneppen2
1Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100, København Ø, Denmark. andreaseilersen@nbi.ku.dk.
The European Physical Journal. E, Soft Matter
|July 4, 2020
Summary
Pathogens can drive predator extinction, especially for specialists. Prey can use disease as a defense, and generalist predators are more likely to survive epidemics impacting prey populations.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Epidemiology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Predation and disease are key ecological factors.
- Multi-host pathogens are common, but their interaction with predation is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze a predator-prey model incorporating disease in both populations.
- To determine conditions leading to extinction events using allometric scaling.
Main Methods:
- Developed a mathematical model of predator-prey dynamics with disease.
- Used allometric mass scaling to estimate parameter values.
- Focused on extinction thresholds rather than linear stability.
Main Results:
- Specialist predators frequently go extinct when prey are diseased.
- Predators survive if they have an alternative, immune prey species.
- Coexistence of predator and disease is not possible in a single-prey model.
Conclusions:
- Prey can weaponize pathogens against predators.
- Generalist predators have a survival advantage during epidemics.
- Disease dynamics significantly influence predator-prey stability and survival.
Keywords:
Living systems: Biological networks
Related Concept Videos
02:39Predator-Prey Interactions
20.8K
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.
20.8K
00:58Symbiosis
36.6K
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...
36.6K
02:34Competition
24.1K
When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. Even if two competing individuals or populations do not interact directly, the overall fitness of both competitors is lowered as a result of not having full access to the limited resource.
24.1K
02:26Defenses Against Pathogens and Herbivores
29.3K
Plants present a rich source of nutrients for many organisms, making it a target for herbivores and infectious agents. Plants, though lacking a proper immune system, have developed an array of constitutive and inducible defenses to fend off these attacks.
29.3K
02:40Epiphytes, Parasites, and Carnivores
16.4K
Plants often form mutualistic relationships with soil-dwelling fungi or bacteria to enhance their roots’ nutrient uptake ability. Root-colonizing fungi (e.g., mycorrhizae) increase a plant’s root surface area, which promotes nutrient absorption. While root-colonizing, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g., rhizobia) convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3), making nitrogen available to plants for various biological functions. For example, nitrogen is essential for the...
16.4K
01:21Frequency-dependent Selection
22.9K
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
22.9K