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A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

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Emerging spatiotemporal patterns in cyclic predator-prey systems with habitats.

Hana Mir¹, James Stidham¹, Michel Pleimling¹

¹Department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0435, USA.

Physical Review. E

|June 16, 2022

Summary

In predator-prey models, a habitat advantage for one species unexpectedly leads to its predator dominating. The advantaged species remains scarce until its escape rate surpasses a critical threshold, impacting coexistence and spiral wave dynamics.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Mathematical Biology
Complex Systems

Background:

Cyclic predator-prey systems typically exhibit spiral waves, facilitating species coexistence.
Heterogeneous environments can significantly alter ecological dynamics and spatial patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of a habitat-specific predation escape advantage on species coexistence.
To analyze emergent spatiotemporal patterns in a structured three-species predator-prey system.

Main Methods:

Numerical analysis of spatial densities for each species within a heterogeneous system.
Calculation of spatial two-point correlation functions both inside and outside the habitat.
Extension of the model to a six-species game to observe complex spiral wave behavior.

Main Results:

Counterintuitively, the predator of the advantaged species became dominant within the habitat.
The species with the escape advantage had the lowest density until a threshold escape rate was met.
Spiral wave patterns were observed, with more complex dynamics in the six-species model.

Conclusions:

Habitat-induced advantages can lead to unexpected dominance hierarchies in predator-prey systems.
Species coexistence is sensitive to the interplay between spatial structure and intrinsic advantages.
The study highlights the complex emergent behaviors in structured ecological models.