Dragonfly larvae and tadpole frog space use games in varied light conditions

Predators and prey often engage in a game where predators attemptto be in areas with higher prey densities and prey attempt tobe in areas with lower predator densities. A few models havepredicted the resulting distributions of predators and prey,but little empirical data exist to test these predictions andto examine how abiotic and biotic factors shape the distributions.Thus, we observed how Anax dragonfly nymphs and Pacific treefrog tadpoles (Pseudacris regilla) either together or separatelydistributed themselves in an arena with a high- and a low-preyresource patch. Trials were conducted in high- and low-lightconditions to manipulate predation risk and to view the effectsof this abiotic factor. Counter to the model predictions, wefound that predators were not more abundant in high-resource(HR) patches, and they thus did not force prey toward beinguniformly distributed. Using a model selection approach to assesswhat factors affected predator and prey patch-switching movement,we found that prey more often left patches that had more predatorspresent, but predators surprisingly more often left patcheswith more prey present. Light levels did not affect predationrisk; however, in the dark with the associated reduction invisual information predators preferred HR patches. This causeda lower coincidence of prey and predators in patches. Predatorsalso switched patches less often when they occupied the samepatch as the other predator. This suggests that predator distributions,and indirectly prey distributions, are affected by the riskof intraguild predation.