Predator-induced prey dispersal can cause hump-shaped density-area relationships in prey populations (Q6198016)

Predator-prey population dependence may include spatial effects, once they take place in inhomogeneous landscapes. This is typically expressed in terms of the density-area relationship (DAR). How minimal patch sizes needed for survival of a viable population and/or prey-predator coexistence depend on the inhomogeneity is in general not well understood. In this paper the authors study a spatially explicit predator-prey model, built on a reaction-diffusion framework. They show that in different parameter regimes there can be patch sizes where a hump-shaped DAR appears, and others where coexistence is not possible. The effects described include not only the direct predation, but also the changing behaviour of prey animals due to the presence of predators, e.g. emigration to a more hostile environment, which affects their survival rate also.