In an experiment using Didinium and Paramecium with refuge, what happens to prey population?
A refuge makes part of the Paramecium population inaccessible to Didinium. Predation can initially reduce exposed prey, but protected individuals survive and reproduce, allowing the prey population to recover. The system may then approach persistence or a fluctuating stable state instead of ending in rapid prey extinction followed by predator starvation, as occurred in classic unstructured laboratory cultures. Refuge effectiveness can depend on size, accessibility, movement, and density, so stabilization need not mean constant abundance. The sequence of decline, subsequent increase, and stabil
Ref: Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems, Begon et al., 5th Ed., Ch. 10