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Group 7
Desert Scorpions
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Introduction
Intraguild predation is a very widespread and important interaction in many systems. It happens when two or more species that make use of similar resources, making them competitors, also also have predator-prey interactions. In the Coachella Valley, California, four scorpion species engage in intraguild predation among themselves. Polis & McCormick (1987) carried out a study on these four scorpion species, and concluded that the most abudant scorpion limited the growth of the others, not through competition, but rather via predation.
Hadrurus arizonensis scorpion
Assignment
Understand the relations of competition and predator-prey interactions taking place in the system.
Suggested questions
- Can the predator-prey interaction, rather than competition, be the decisive factor for which species is most abundant?
- How does the relevance of the age structure to the intraguild predation interaction affect the system? What about symmetry?
References
- Polis & McCormick (1987) Intraguild Predation and Competition Among Desert Scorpions Ecology 68(2), pp. 332-343 link