Peer Community Journal (Mar 2024)

A note on predator-prey dynamics in radiocarbon datasets

  • Marom, Nimrod,
  • Wolkowski, Uri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.395
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4

Abstract

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Predator-prey interactions have been a central theme in population ecology for the past century, but real-world data sets only exist for recent, relatively short (<100 years) time spans. This limits our ability to study centennial/millennial-scale predator-prey dynamics. We propose that regional radiocarbon databases can be used to reconstruct a signal of predator-prey population dynamics in deep time, overcoming this limitation. We support our argument with examples from Pleistocene Beringia and the Holocene Judean Desert.