Role reversal in a predator–prey interaction

Abstract

Predator–prey relationships are one of the most studied interactions in population ecology. However, little attention has been paid to the possibility of role exchange between species, despite firm field evidence of such phenomena in nature. In this paper, we build a mathematical model capable of reproducing the main phenomenological features of role reversal in a classical system and present results for both the temporal and spatio-temporal cases. We show that, depending on the choice of parameters, our role-reversal dynamical system exhibits excitable-like behaviour, generating waves of species' concentrations that propagate through space. Our findings fill a long-standing gap in modelling ecological interactions and can be applicable to better understanding ecological niche shifts and planning of sustainable ecosystems.

Keywords

• predator–prey
• bistability
• excitable media
• reaction–diffusion