Menezes J, Batista S, Tenorio M, Triaca E, Moura B
School of Science and Technology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 59072-970, P.O. Box 1524, Natal, RN, Brazil.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Av. Senador Salgado Filho, 300 Lagoa Nova, 59078-970 Natal, RN, Brazil, Brasil.
Chaos. 2022 Dec;32(12):123142. doi: 10.1063/5.0106165.
Antipredator behavior is a self-preservation strategy present in many biological systems, where individuals join the effort in a collective reaction to avoid being caught by an approaching predator. We study a nonhierarchical tritrophic system, whose predator-prey interactions are described by the rock-paper-scissors game rules. We perform a set of spatial stochastic simulations where organisms of one out of the species can resist predation in a collective strategy. The drop in predation capacity is local, which means that each predator faces a particular opposition depending on the prey group size surrounding it. Considering that the interference in a predator action depends on the prey's physical and cognitive ability, we explore the role of a conditioning factor that indicates the fraction of the species apt to perform the antipredator strategy. Because of the local unbalancing of the cyclic predator-prey interactions, departed spatial domains mainly occupied by a single species emerge. Unlike the rock-paper-scissors model with a weak species because of a nonlocal reason, our findings show that if the predation probability of one species is reduced because individuals face local antipredator response, the species does not predominate. Instead, the local unbalancing of the rock-paper-scissors model results in the prevalence of the weak species' prey. Finally, the outcomes show that local unevenness may jeopardize biodiversity, with the coexistence being more threatened for high mobility.
反捕食行为是许多生物系统中存在的一种自我保护策略，在这种策略中，个体共同努力做出集体反应，以避免被接近的捕食者捕获。我们研究了一个非层级的三营养级系统，其捕食者与猎物之间的相互作用由“石头 - 剪刀 - 布”游戏规则描述。我们进行了一组空间随机模拟，其中一个物种的生物体可以通过集体策略抵抗捕食。捕食能力的下降是局部性的，这意味着每个捕食者面临的特定对抗取决于其周围猎物群体的大小。考虑到对捕食者行动的干扰取决于猎物的身体和认知能力，我们探究了一个调节因素的作用，该因素表明易于执行反捕食策略的物种比例。由于循环的捕食者 - 猎物相互作用存在局部失衡，主要由单一物种占据的分离空间域出现了。与因非局部原因导致存在弱势物种的“石头 - 剪刀 - 布”模型不同，我们的研究结果表明，如果一个物种的捕食概率因个体面临局部反捕食反应而降低，该物种不会占据主导地位。相反，“石头 - 剪刀 - 布”模型的局部失衡导致弱势物种的猎物占优势。最后，结果表明局部不均匀性可能危及生物多样性，对于高流动性而言，共存受到的威胁更大。
