Differential vulnerability of prey to an invading top predator: integrating field surveys and laboratory experiments

Abstract 1. A new top predator, the dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii, invaded Broadstone Stream (U.K.) in the mid‐1990s. This provided a rare opportunity to assess the impact of a new, large carnivore on a community that has been studied since the 1970s and has one of the most detailed food webs yet published. The vulnerability of the resident species to the invader was assessed by integrating experiments, which examined discrete stages in the predation sequence, with empirical survey data.

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