Frontiers in Predator–Prey Ecology

Dear Colleagues,

Complex natural systems are changing rapidly due to human activity. Habitat loss and modification, direct killing, climate change, and pollution alter the composition of and connectivity within wildlife communities. These factors shape how species interact with each other and their capacity to coexist with neighboring human populations. Our ability to observe and respond to these changes, however, has also undergone a rapid transformation: recent technological advances allow us to gain a far more intimate understanding of trophic interactions than ever before, with important consequences for conserving and restoring functional ecological communities.

In this collection, we aim to highlight “Predator-prey interactions in a human-dominated world.” Our goal is to explore how human advancements are shaping how we understand and influence predator–prey interactions. We are recruiting studies from across a wide variety of taxa, communities, and biomes to highlight multiple pathways by which predator–prey dynamics structure ecological communities and how these dynamics are altered within human-dominated systems. We focus on three main themes:

1) How do we effectively study predator–prey relationships? We are particularly interested in studies that utilize new technologies to better quantify predator–prey dynamics from individual behavior and community structure.

2) How do we maintain functional predator–prey relationships in human-dominated landscapes? How can we manage human–wildlife conflict that involves interactions between predators and prey? We welcome research that identifies ways in which humans influence predator-prey interactions and/or tests of the effectiveness of new management and mitigation techniques.

3) How do we restore functional predator–prey dynamics? Here, we recruit papers that examine how systems change as a result of predator loss via removal of predator–prey interactions and that explore ways to rebuild functional ecological relationships between predators and prey through reintroductions or rewildling.

Dr. Meredith Palmer
Dr. Justine Becker
Dr. Charlotte Hacker
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• conservation
• technology extinction
• human-wildlife conflict
• predator-prey
• rewilding
• trophic cascades