Predator-prey time series: Monthly densities of least Killifish and Eastern Mosquitofish over five years

Individual predator and prey species exhibit coupled population dynamics in simple laboratory systems and simple natural communities.  It is unclear how often such pairwise coupling occurs in more complex communities, in which an individual predator species might feed on several prey species and an individual prey species might be attacked by several predators.  To examine this problem, we applied multivariate autoregressive state-space (MARSS) models to five-year time series of monthly surveys of a predatory fish, the Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), and its littoral zone prey species, the least Killifish (Heterandria formosa), in three locations in north Florida.  The MARSS models were consistent with coupled predator-prey dynamics at two of the three locations.  In one of these two locations, the estimated densities of the two species displayed classic predator-prey oscillations.  In the third location, there was a positive effect of Killifish density on Mosquitofish densit..., Data collected in rivers and ponds via monthly throw-trap census., , # Predator-prey time series: Monthly densities of least Killifish and Eastern Mosquitofish over five years

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqpw](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqpw)

The dataset contains the summary means and variances of several variables estimated from the throw-trap data collected in three locations in north Florida, two in Jefferson County and one in Leon County. The data were used to assess whether monthly densities of a species of prey, Heterandria formosa, display a reciprocal relationship with monthly densities of a predator, Gambusia holbrooki. The data come from three separate locations, with monthly censuses over a five-year period at each month.

## Description of the data and file structure

The datafile is entitled TimeSeriesLogMeans.csv. The first row is a heading with the variable names. Each subsequent row corresponds to a sampling date at each of three locations.

LOCATION: There are three locations, TP (Trout Pond), WRHW (headwaters of Wa...