Similar Conditions With Opposite Effects: Predation-Risk Effects on Prey Abundance Are Highly Contingent.

ABSTRACT: Experiments have shown that predation-risk effects on prey fitness can be highly contingent on environmental conditions, suggesting a potential difficulty in generalizing risk effects on prey abundance in natural settings. Rather than study the influence of a particular controlled factor, we examine the problem with a novel approach. We examined the influence of risk effects in multiple experiments performed under similar study conditions. Any differences in the experiments would typically be deemed incidental, that is, they would not be given attention in methodology, nor be presented as factors affecting results or inferences. Therefore, any differences in the magnitude and direction of risk effects among experiments would indicate that risk effects on prey population abundance are stron

SUBMITTER: Peacor SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11735265 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature