In peace and in war

Abstract

In a 1946 review of predation and vertebrate populations, the wildlife biologist Paul Errington mused, "Whatever else may be said of predation, it does draw attention". In the near-half-century since, there has been an enormous amount of research on interactions between natural enemies (defined to include parasites, pathogens and herbivores, as well as predators) and their victims. It is easy to see why, for the pas de deux between enemies and victims permeates all levels of biological organization, from energy flow through ecosystems to the moulding of individual behaviour by natural selection, and is moreover central to many applied ecological problems.