Prey attracting but not avoiding predators suggests an asymmetric investment in the predation sequence

Understanding predator-prey interactions, particularly how species use space and time to influence encounter rates, is a central question in ecology. For large, free-ranging organisms, however, encounter rates are rarely quantified directly (e.g., via telemetry), due to both logistical and methodological challenges and are instead approximated through proxies such as spatial or temporal overlap. However, such proxies lack of precision regarding encounter rates estimation due to the exclusion of one of the dimensions (spatial or temporal). Camera traps, while not suited to directly measure encounters of large free-roaming species, can help overcome these limitations by estimating to what extent species tolerate or avoid one anothers proximity. We analysed data from a one-year study across four German protected areas using 283 camera traps and applying recurrent event analysis to investigate interactions among three prey species (red deer Cervus elaphus, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, wild boar Sus scrofa) and two predators (grey wolf Canis lupus, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx). Prey visitation rates were unaffected by predator presence, but wolves exhibited a strong attraction to prey, with visitation rates approximatively seven times higher right after prey detection. Limited data prevented robust conclusion regarding the Eurasian lynx. These findings point towards an asymmetry in predation sequence (i.e., spatio-temporal proximity, encounter, ignorance or avoidance post-encounter, capture or escape from attack): predators must succeed at every stage of the sequence to capture prey, while prey can "fail" at some steps (e.g. by decreasing spatio-temporal proximity, as in this study) but eventually escape predation by disrupting the process at any other stage.