Hidden interactions between predators and prey: evolution causes cryptic dynamics in ecology

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The rotifer Brachionus exhibits regular cycles in abundance but the alga Chlorella on which it feeds does not -- except in its genotype frequencies. The same occurs between the phage T4 and bacteria. Credit: Photomicrograph: T. Yoshida and R. Wayne
The rotifer Brachionus exhibits regular cycles in abundance, but the alga Chlorella, on which it feeds, does not -- except in its genotype frequencies. The same occurs between the phage T4 and bacteria. Credit: Photomicrograph: T. Yoshida and R. Wayne

When the populations of two species oscillate together (for example, predators and prey), it’s a good bet that they are tightly coupled ecologically. A famous example is the Canadian lynx and snowshoe hare, documented in the trapping records of the Hudson’s Bay Company. But is the opposite also true" If the prey’s population doesn’t fluctuate while the predator’s does, can we assume they are not tightly linked in the food web?


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