Unveiling the Hidden Feast: A Model to Translate Molecular Detection Into Predation Rate-Application Example on Biological Control by Generalist Predators in Agricultural Fields.

ABSTRACT: Few processes are as decisive as predation in shaping the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. For most predator species, however, the number of prey items killed by a predator in a day (predation rate) remains impossible to assess because direct observations are scarce or impossible to acquire. For such species, molecular gut content analyses are routinely used to test for the presence of a prey in the predator's gut. Specifically, our model uses a novel mechanistic representation of predation and digestion to integrate field data on prey detection and laboratory data on prey molecular signal decay in the predator's gut. Model fit provides an estimate of the slope and intercept of the digestion curve (molecular signal decay) and an estimate of the predation rate. In a case st

SUBMITTER: Masson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12550487 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature