Reproductive Value, Prudent Predators, and Group Selection

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Abstract
Slobodkin''s mechanism of prudence does not adequately satisfy the conditions of his original definition, although it may represent, in many cases, the state of natural systems. The stabilization of predator-prey systems requires mechanisms for controlling not only the kinds, but also the quantity of prey consumed by the predator. Although long-term prey yield may be increased by taking only certain age categories of the prey population (when the rate of predation is fixed at a certain percent of natality), restriction to these categories cannot in itself regulate the density of the prey, and hence the predator can neither maximize the yield of its prey nor stabilize the fluctuations in the density of its prey. Mechanisms controlling the quantity of prey taken by the predator probably require group selection, but this is not necessarily true.

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