Fake caterpillar study reveals global pattern in predation

Thursday, May 18th, 2017. Posted by Owen Lewis.

A study led by Eleanor Slade has investigated whether higher diversity in the tropics translates into differences in interaction rates among species. A large team of collaborators deployed dummy caterpillars, made from plasticine modelling clay, across six continents. We found that predator attack rates were higher toward the equator, but only for arthropod predators. Read the full article in Science or Oxford University’s press release.