Roles of dispersal, stochasticity, and nonlinear dynamics in the spatial structuring of seasonal natural enemy-victim populations

Population Ecology (2005) 47: 221-227.

Abstract

Natural enemy-victim systems may exhibit a range of dynamic space-time patterns. We used a theoretical framework to study spatiotemporal structuring in a transient natural enemy-victim system subject to differential rates of dispersal, stochastic forcing, and nonlinear dynamics. Highly mobile natural enemies that attacked less mobile victims were locally spatially segregated from each other when governed by approximate linear dynamics. In contrast, in nonlinear dynamical systems, such as cyclic populations, interacting species achieved local aggregation with each other regardless of dispersal rates, and aggregation was enhanced specifically when highly mobile enemies attacked less mobile victims. These patterns of spatial aggregation held under varying levels of stochastic forcing. This work thus shows a range of dynamic spatial patterns in interactingspecies models, and how spatial aggregation between natural enemies and victims can be achieved in locally unstable populations that are linked through dispersal.

Key words: Predator-prey interactions, Spatial aggregation, Nonparametric spatial covariance function, Coupled map lattice