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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 engage in predator-prey interactions. In the Coachella Valley, California intraguild predation occurs among four scorpion species. Polis & McCormick (1987) carried out a study on these species, and concluded that the most abudant scorpion species limited the growth of the others, not through competition, but rather because predation.
Hadrurus arizonensis scorpion
Assignment
Propose a mathematical model for the dynamics of these populations of scorpions. Your model should take into account the findings and hypotheses of Polis & McCormick (1987). Use this model to explore the consequences of this dynamics and advance hypotheses that can be tested in the field or in the laboratory.
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