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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
Summary
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.
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.
Keywords:
evolutionary ecologyevolutionary extinctionlandscape ecologypopulation declinepopulation dynamicspredator-preyMore Related Videos
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