Meeting Abstract
S1-2.2 Friday, Jan. 4 The role of identity in predator-prey interactions: Are mechanics and strategy one-size-fits-all or tailored to each adversary? COMBES, SA*; IWASAKI, JM; PANDIT, MM; SWITZER, CM; WEILAND, TJ; Harvard Univ; Univ Otago, NZ; Indiana Univ; Harvard Univ; Middlebury Coll scombes@oeb.harvard.edu
The dynamics of predator-prey interactions vary enormously, depending on the substrate/medium in which they occur, and on the locomotory modes, motor and sensory capabilities, and behavioral strategies of predator and prey. Encounters are often described as either active chases, in which each participant is aware of and reacts to the other, or as ambush predation, in which predators pounce on unsuspecting prey. In reality, most interactions lie somewhere in the middle, and in many cases it is difficult to discern how (or even if) the participants respond to each others’ actions. To further complicate matters, most predators pursue a range of different prey, and most organisms are preyed upon by a variety of predators. Because mechanistic studies of predation are scarce, we do not yet know whether predators employ a general kinematic and behavioral strategy when pursuing most prey, or whether they tailor their pursuit to each prey type; nor do we know how widely related prey species differ in their survival strategies and in their motor and sensory capabilities. To address these questions, we examined aerial interactions between dragonflies and dipteran prey, filming encounters with high-speed video to reconstruct 3-d trajectories and quantify biomechanics and strategy. We studied five species of libellulid dragonflies pursuing four species of dipteran prey, including fruit flies, mosquitoes, houseflies and deerflies. By analyzing large numbers of encounters between different predator-prey pairs, we were able to identify common mechanical features of dragonfly predation, infer which prey species can sense and actively respond to approaching predators, and pinpoint key factors that help determine the outcome of predator-prey interactions.
