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Related Concept Videos

Predator-Prey Interactions02:39

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.Although predation is commonly associated with carnivory, for...
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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less likely to...
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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents
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Structured Landscapes Promote Persistence by Favoring Prudent Predators.

Leithen K M'Gonigle1, Emma L Green1, Philip B Greenspoon2

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A 1S6, Canada.

The American Naturalist
|June 18, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Predators may face extinction through adaptive decline, where they overexploit prey. In complex landscapes, interconnectedness can reduce this risk, but isolated patches may increase extinction likelihood.

Keywords:
evolutionary ecologyevolutionary extinctionlandscape ecologypopulation declinepopulation dynamicspredator-prey

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Population Dynamics

Background:

  • Adaptive decline, a phenomenon where predators overexploit prey leading to population collapse, is known in simple populations.
  • Spatial structure in landscapes may influence selection pressures on population size, potentially mitigating adaptive decline.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of multipatch landscape structure on adaptive decline using a simulation model.
  • To determine how landscape connectivity affects the likelihood and severity of adaptive decline.

Main Methods:

  • Development and application of a simulation model for multipatch landscapes.
  • Analysis of predator-prey dynamics under varying landscape structures and connectivity.

Main Results:

  • Increased landscape interconnectedness generally reduces adaptive decline.
  • Reduced connectivity among patches significantly increases the probability of extreme adaptive decline, including extinction.
  • Landscape structure plays a critical role in modulating the evolutionary trajectory of predator populations.

Conclusions:

  • Spatial structure in multipatch landscapes has contrasting effects on adaptive decline.
  • While interconnectedness offers a buffer, isolation can drive predators toward extinction via adaptive decline.
  • Findings have implications for understanding host-parasite evolution and cooperation dynamics in structured populations.