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Phase-locking and environmental fluctuations generate synchrony in a predator–prey community

Author

Listed:
  • David A. Vasseur

    (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA)

  • Jeremy W. Fox

    (University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada)

Abstract

All together now Understanding what causes populations to fluctuate in synchrony is important, since synchronicity can have marked effects on extinction risk, food web stability and other factors influencing an ecosystem. Adjacent populations involved in similar predator–prey cycles often oscillate in synchrony, and David Vasseur and Jeremy Fox used theory and laboratory microcosms to show that, when predators are present, dispersal between prey populations is responsible for this phase-locking. Dispersal is the ability of individual organisms — Vasseur and Fox worked with snowshoe hares and Canadian lynx — to move from one isolated population to another. The model resulting from this work is robust to wide variations in parameters representing predator–prey and host–pathogen systems, suggesting that it may have general applicability.

Suggested Citation

  • David A. Vasseur & Jeremy W. Fox, 2009. "Phase-locking and environmental fluctuations generate synchrony in a predator–prey community," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7258), pages 1007-1010, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:460:y:2009:i:7258:d:10.1038_nature08208
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08208
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    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Xinbin & Xu, Xinming & Hu, Dawei, 2020. "Succession mechanism of microbial community with high species diversity in nutrient-deficient environments with low-dose ionizing radiation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 435(C).
    2. Lasse Ruokolainen, 2013. "Spatio-Temporal Environmental Correlation and Population Variability in Simple Metacommunities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-10, August.
    3. Bagchi, Dweepabiswa & Arumugam, Ramesh & Chandrasekar, V.K. & Senthilkumar, D.V., 2022. "Metacommunity stability and persistence for predation turnoff in selective patches," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 470(C).

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