Shared predation: positive effects of predator distraction

Abstract

Simple rules based on population equilibria can characterize indirect interactions in three-species systems but fail to predict them when considering behavioral mechanisms. In this paper, we revisit the effects of shared predation, i.e. the situation in which two prey are consumed by a common predator. Such predation usually induces negative indirect interactions between prey, or apparent competition, through an increase of predator density and thus of predation pressure. Two mechanisms can however weaken apparent competition and lead to equivocal signs of indirect interactions. On the one hand, predator distraction, which stems from the difficulty to efficiently forage for different prey at the same moment in time and diminishes the number of prey captured per predator. On the other hand, predator negative density dependence limits predator growth. To get further insights into simple rules describing indirect interactions brought about by shared predation, we studied two classes of one-predator-two-prey models exhibiting these two mechanisms. We found robust simple rules derived from predator equilibria which state that at least one prey is favored by the presence of the other when the predators partition their foraging effort between them. These rules thus characterize a surprising wide range of indirect effects including apparent predation, apparent commensalism and apparent mutualism. They also highlight different situations in which larger predator populations do not entail smaller prey populations and in which neither prey species can be negatively affected by the other.