Spatial extinction or persistence: landscape-temperature interactions perturb predator-prey dynamics

Recognising that species interact across a range of spatial scales, we explore how landscape structure interacts with temperature to influence persistence. Specifically, we recognise that few studies indicate thermal shifts as the proximal cause of species extinctions; rather, species interactions exacerbated by temperature result in extinctions. Using microcosm-based experiments, as models of larger landscape processes, we test hypotheses that would be problematic to address through field work. A text-book predator-prey system (the ciliates Didinium and Paramecium) was used to compare three landscapes: an unfragmented landscape subjected to uniform temperatures (10, 20, 30 °C); a fragmented landscape (potentially hosting metapopulations) subjected to these three temperatures; and a fragmented landscape subjected to a spatial temperature gradient (~10 to 30 °C) - despite the prevalence of natural temperature ecoclines this is the first time such an analysis has been conducted. Initial t...