Interaction strength and harvest intensity mediate predator–prey dynamics on coral reefs

Understanding predator–prey relationships is fundamental to our knowledge of the stability and resilience of ecological systems. These dynamics are shaped by both ecological factors, like interaction strength, and anthropogenic factors, like harvest intensity, which can have large-scale implications for community structure. However, few studies have focused on the combined impact of these effects and their contribution to phenomena like prey release within two-species frameworks. In this study, we investigate the interactive impact of interaction strength and harvest pressure on two trophic levels in a predator–prey system using a mathematical modeling approach. Our results reveal that interaction strength plays a crucial role in shaping population dynamics, with high interaction strength leading to a predator-dominated system and low interaction strength enabling coexistence between species. The addition of predator harvest into the system reveals complex and counterintuitive behavior not seen in unharvested systems, likely due to the destabilizing impacts of harvest at some interaction strengths. Specifically, the inclusion of harvest on the predator can induce a range of behaviors, such as prey release and predator decline, that alter the equilibrium abundance of both predator and prey populations. Interestingly, predator–prey systems with intermediate to high interaction strengths achieve maximum total abundance with low harvest levels rather than in scenarios with no harvest pressure, as prey populations benefit greatly from reduced predation mortality associated with predator harvest. We gain insights into the complex interplay between predator–prey interactions and human activities in shaping community composition and abundances across trophic levels. This study provides potential mechanisms that may explain the observed variation in numerical prey release in trophically complex systems in which predators and prey are both extracted, like coral reef fisheries. Results highlight the need for resource management to consider the wide range of factors that shape ecosystem dynamics to develop effective strategies that safeguard the long-term health of complex ecosystems and the human communities that they support.