Mechanisms and Outcomes of Predator-Prey Interactions: Scaling Across Space and Time

The 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey Interactions brings together speakers from a range of disciplines to address both the underlying mechanisms and emergent impacts of the predator-prey dynamic. The neurobiology of responses to risk in individual prey can, when aggregated across a population, profoundly affect surrounding ecosystems. Similarly, researchers are increasingly aware of how quickly selection and epigenetic forces can shift prey phenotypes and alter future interactions with predators. In both cases, the connections between small-scale (within an individual or at a single point in time) and large-scale (across ecosystems or generations) processes illustrate how exploring the "linkage map" of predator-prey interactions across scales can identify new fields of research and synergize the collaborations necessary to address them. Our 30 invited speakers range from postdoctoral researchers to institute directors and hail from five continents; all are extremely active researchers. We have targeted the most exciting advances in predator-prey work across multiple fields, with each speaker agreeing to share their latest unpublished findings. In order to encourage active participation from everyone at the conference, all attendees are strongly encouraged to present a poster on their work. Should the conference be oversubscribed (as it was in 2014), applicants presenting posters will be given priority in the registration process.