Dr. Torsekar is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He completed his PhD from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, under the supervision of Prof. Rohini Balakrishnan. For this paper, he collaborated with Dr. Maria Thaker and published the paper titled “Mate-searching context of prey influences the predator–prey space race” in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2020).
Author interview
How would you explain your paper’s key results to the non-scientific community?
Predators often track and move toward prey, but prey are not passive—they actively avoid predators at various spatial scales. However, prey can’t spend all their time avoiding danger; they also need to find food and mates.
Our study explores how prey’s reproductive behaviors affect these spatial dynamics with predators. Many animals find mates by signaling—for example, immobile males produce calls and mobile females follow these signals to locate them. This setup leads to different predator encounters, depending on mobility and predictability.
We tested this using tree crickets and their predator, the green lynx spider, which cohabit small bushes. We found:
- Calling males and females tend to occupy bushes that are more likely to also contain spiders.
- Non-calling males show no such pattern.
- In controlled experiments, females move away from spiders, but males move closer, potentially inspecting the predator.
This shows that prey behavior, specifically sex and mate-search strategy, influences both overlap with predators and movement in response to them, adding complexity to predator-prey dynamics.
What are the possible consequences of these findings for your research area?
Our work emphasizes that individual-level behavioral differences can significantly impact predator-prey interactions. It cautions against overly broad, species-level generalizations in such ecological studies.
Because our experiments allowed free movement and used natural populations, we believe the results are robust and contribute to the theory of predator-prey interactions and mate-searching behaviors.
“[…] our results can inform the theory of the fields of predator-prey interactions and mate searching behaviour.”
What was the exciting moment (eureka moment) during your research?
This study had multiple components and results, so there wasn’t a single defining moment. However, one surprising and exciting finding was that male crickets sometimes move toward predators—a behavior also noted in other prey species. It was bizarre yet fascinating.
“[…] one result which left us equal parts excited and baffled was male crickets moving towards their predators at the fine-scale.”
What do you hope to do next?
I’m transitioning into a new research area: Ecosystem Ecology. This field explores questions at a broader, ecosystem scale, and I’m eager to dive into it.
Where do you seek scientific inspiration?
My inspiration comes from:
- Conceptually novel research and thought-provoking discussions
- Popular science books like Full House by Stephen Jay Gould
- Science blogs such as Dynamic Ecology, which I find both insightful and inspirational
How do you intend to help Indian science improve?
While my current postdoc in Israel limits my on-ground contributions to Indian science, I engage through:
- Twitter – sharing research, job opportunities, and normalizing the social side of science
- Science communication – to make ecological research accessible and relevant
- Future plans – returning to India in a permanent role to:
- Promote ecological awareness to non-academic audiences
- Build international collaborations showcasing Indian ecology research on the global stage
Reference
Torsekar V R*, Thaker M.
Mate-searching context of prey influences the predator–prey space race. Proc. Royal Soc. B (2020), 287. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1462.
*Corresponding author.
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