The worst wedding gift in history: an Irish tale of predator helps prey
The Wild with Chris Morgan
The Predator-Mediated Competition Between Pine Martins and Red Squirrels
Every five years Ruth and others surveyed woodlands across Ireland with the help of citizens and scientists. They could tell that the density of pine martins in a particular woodland was enough to cause the grey squirrel numbers to drop. Then over the next two years the red squirrels would slowly take their place. Pine martins were affecting the race between reds and grays by inserting a third type of competition between them. The dominance of the grays was being undercut by the pine martin ability to kill them. It's called predator mediated competition and it's a rare case because it overrides and even reverses the advantage the grey squirrels have over the reds when it comes to finding food
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