Impact of predator pursuit and prey evasion on synchrony and spatial patterns in metapopulation

Spatial synchrony, a normal self-organized spatial pattern in the predator–prey and host–parasitoid systems, can increase risk of regional extinction and hence, shrink metapopulation persistence. Coupled patch models, based on a within-patch Ronsenzweig–MacArthur Model, are adopted to investigate the impact of predator pursuit (PP) and prey evasion (PE) on the spatial synchrony and pattern formation in metapopulation framework. PP indicates that predators migrate not only from patches of higher predator density to those of lower predator density but also from patches of lower prey density to those of higher prey density; while, PE describes that prey migrate not only from patches of higher prey density to those of lower prey density but also from patches of higher predator density to those of lower predator density. Results show that either PP or PE can reduce spatial synchrony and result in the improvement of metapopulation persistence. Spatially explicit predator–prey system with local migration but without PP and PE can produce self-organized spatial patterns such as circular waves. The effect of PP and PE on spatial predator–prey system can decrease the spatial synchrony and change the circular waves to spatial chaos; therefore, these factors increase the spatial complexity and improve the metapopulation persistence.