Competition and Dispersal in Predator–Prey Waves

Abstract

Dispersing predators and prey can exhibit complex spatio-temporal wave-like patterns if the interactions between them cause oscillatory dynamics. We study the effect of these predator–prey density waves on the competition between prey populations and between predator populations with different dispersal strategies. We first describe 1- and 2-dimensional simulations of both discrete and continuous predator–prey models. The results suggest that any population that diffuses faster, disperses farther, or is more likely to disperse will exclude slower diffusing, shorter dispersing, or less likely dispersing populations, everything else being equal. It also appears that it does not matter whether time, space, or state are discrete or continuous, nor what the exact interactions between the predators and prey are. So long as waves exist the competition between populations occurs in a similar fashion. We derive a theory that qualitatively explains the observed behaviour and calculate approximate analytical solutions that describe, to a reasonable extent, these behaviours. Predictions about the cost of dispersal are tested. If strong enough, cost can reverse the populations' relative competitive strengths or lead to coexistence because of the effect of spiral wave cores. The theory is also able to explain previous results of simulations of coexistence in host–parasitoid models (Comins, H. N., and Massell, M. P., 1996, J. Theor. Biol. 183, 19–28).