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Title: Global dynamics of stochastic predator–prey model with mutual interference and prey defense
Award ID(s):
1715377 1839993
PAR ID:
10073068
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computing
ISSN:
1598-5865
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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  2. Subject Editor: Gregor Kalinkat Editor-in-Chief: Dries Bonte (Ed.)
    Trophic interactions underpin the structure of ecological communities by describing the rates at which consumers exploit their resources. The rates at which predators consume their prey are influenced by prey traits, with many species inducing defensive modifications to prey traits following the threat of predation. Here we use different clonal lines of the protist Paramecium being consumed by Stenostomum predators to highlight how differences in prey traits impact rates of predation. Clonal lines differed in their body width traits, and in their ability to induce changes in body width. By using a factorial cross of predator and prey abundances for different clonal lines we demonstrate how evolutionary or induced alterations in prey traits can impact the relative threat of predation. Our experiments show how interference among predators impacts predation rate, and how increased body width increased predator handling times. Given that reductions in the strength of interspecific interactions are associated with increased levels of overall community stability, our results indicate how individual level changes may scale up to impact whole communities 
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