Category: Ecology

Summary: Testing whether intermediate phase lags between reserve closures help prey persistence only when predator dispersal is faster than prey dispersal.

Marine reserves are often studied as static protection zones, but periodic closures can also create spatial and temporal structure in predator-prey systems. This experiment asks whether asynchronous reserve timing benefits prey persistence, and whether that benefit depends on predators dispersing more rapidly than prey.

The model sweeps phase lag between reserve cycles while varying the trophic dispersal balance. The proposed mechanism is that asynchronous closures can reduce predator synchrony across patches while still preserving enough prey recolonization flow, but only in the regime where predator movement would otherwise erase local refuge effects.

That turns reserve timing into a trophic interaction question. The project is not simply about whether phase lags help, but about when they help once predator and prey move on different spatial timescales.

Method: GPU-accelerated predator-prey reserve-network simulations sweeping reserve phase lag and relative predator versus prey dispersal.

What is measured: Prey persistence, dependence on reserve phase lag, predator synchrony, recolonization flux, and interaction with trophic dispersal asymmetry.