The project taps into iNaturalist, one of the world’s largest biodiversity platforms, where members of the public upload photos, video and audio recordings of the organisms they encounter. While iNaturalist has long been used to map where species live, the new initiative extends its power to a different layer of ecological information: what those species are actually doing when they encounter one another. Users of the platform can now explicitly tag both predator and prey within a single photograph or video, capturing a feeding interaction at the moment it happens. The predator in question may be a lion taking down an antelope or a caterpillar munching on a garden leaf; the database treats both interactions as equally valuable data points in the planetary food web.

Bradley Allf, corresponding author of the paper describing the project and currently a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University, began the work while a graduate student at North Carolina State University. He explains that knowledge of what organisms eat remains fundamentally incomplete and fragmented across the academic literature. iNaturalist, he notes, has already proven its worth in documenting which organisms live in different locations, and this project extends that success to feeding relationships. The result is a publicly available website, who eats whom dot org, where anyone can explore recorded trophic interactions through an easily searchable interface. What began as an effort to consolidate scattered knowledge has quickly become one of the largest structured datasets of its kind.

The numbers are already striking. To date, the Who Eats Whom project has logged approximately seventeen thousand observations of trophic interactions involving roughly five thousand seven hundred species. These records have come from around two thousand observers based in more than one hundred countries, spanning ecosystems from tropical forests to suburban backyards. Each observation represents a moment when a person witnessed and documented one organism consuming another, creating a verifiable record that researchers can analyze, visualize and cross-reference with existing scientific literature. In aggregate, these individual moments begin to sketch the outline of a global food web, a planetary-scale network of feeding dependencies that has never been mapped at this level of public participation.

Aditi Mallavarapu, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor of computer science at NC State, approached the project from the perspective of human-computer interaction and tool design. Her interest, she says, lies in building usable interactive tools and learning environments, and the food web presented an irresistibly complex system to work with. The design goals were explicit: the site had to be usable, visually engaging and ethically responsible in the way it handled data contributed by citizen scientists. Mallavarapu emphasizes that the platform is intended to serve both researchers and the general public, helping each group grasp feeding relationships that are too numerous and too intricate to be understood through static tables or technical papers alone.

One of the most revealing early findings concerns what motivates participants. Mallavarapu observes that public interest extends well beyond charismatic predators such as lions and wolves. Contributors are documenting smaller, quieter trophic relationships, such as the insects that feed on persimmon leaves, and are using the site to explore interactions tied to their personal passions and local environments. This breadth of engagement matters scientifically. Ecological research has historically skewed toward large, photogenic species, leaving the vast majority of feeding interactions — particularly those involving invertebrates, plants and microbes — poorly documented. A platform driven by thousands of curious amateurs naturally fills some of those gaps, recording interactions that professional ecologists would rarely have the time or funding to chase.

From a technical standpoint, the database opens several promising research directions. Allf notes that the team can use Who Eats Whom to identify novel trophic relationships that have not yet appeared in the academic literature, then contribute those findings formally to scientific publications. The long-term ambition is for the platform to function as a parallel database that complements the peer-reviewed literature, compiling as much feeding information as possible into a single, accessible location. Because observations are time-stamped and geolocated through iNaturalist, the dataset also carries temporal and spatial dimensions that static literature reviews cannot match, potentially allowing scientists to track how feeding relationships shift across seasons, habitats and years.

Visualization is central to that ambition, and it is where Mallavarapu’s team is investing heavily. She describes a planned visual representation of this planetary-scale food web, designed to capture how trophic interactions relate to one another and how those relationships change over time. A simple version of the interface is already live, but the developers are building richer features that will let users explore feeding patterns and pose practical, personal questions — such as what to plant in a North Carolina garden to attract hummingbirds. That framing reveals the project’s dual identity: it is simultaneously a serious scientific database and an invitation for ordinary people to see themselves as participants in the ecological networks surrounding them.

Data quality remains a central challenge for any citizen science effort, and the team is developing tools specifically to validate submissions tagged on iNaturalist. Verification workflows will help ensure that predator and prey identifications are accurate and that interactions are recorded consistently, protecting the database’s scientific value as it scales. Beyond research, the project has an educational mission. The team has already created educational games built on the database, aimed at helping children understand the food web and the interdependencies it captures, with plans to expand that work if additional funding can be secured. The project was developed with substantial contributions from NC State students, including Maithili Bhoop, Adam Biscoe, Surabhi Nair and Lavanya Middha, alongside the thousands of iNaturalist users whose field observations make the entire enterprise possible.

The underlying research, titled Who Eats Whom? A global food web derived from citizen science, was published on September 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. Senior author is Rob Dunn, a professor in NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; additional authors include Nikhil Vasudeva, a former NC State undergraduate, and David Kikuchi, an assistant professor of integrative biology at Oregon State University. The researchers report no conflicts of interest. As the database grows, its creators hope it will transform not only how scientists study food webs but also how the public understands them — turning every hiker, gardener and backyard naturalist into a node in a worldwide effort to document the fundamental question of ecology: what eats what, and why it matters for the living planet.

Subject of Research: A citizen science platform that compiles global predator-prey interaction data from iNaturalist to map the planetary food web.

Article Title: How amateur naturalists are helping scientists track what everything eats

Article References: How amateur naturalists are helping scientists track what everything eats. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: citizen science, food web, iNaturalist, trophic interactions, ecology, biodiversity, Who Eats Whom, open-source database, PLOS Biology, public engagement, predator-prey relationships, data visualization

The placoderms in question lived around 385 million years ago during the Devonian Period, often called the Age of Fishes, in the rich marine ecosystems of the famous Gogo Formation in Western Australia. This world-renowned fossil site has been the focus of decades of research, including long-running collaborations with the local Gooniyandi and Gogo community, and has yielded some of the most exquisitely preserved three-dimensional fish fossils ever discovered. It was here that these armoured predators hunted other armoured creatures on an exotic ancient reef, and it is here that the fossil evidence for their feeding strategies has been locked away in stone, waiting for modern technology to unlock it.

Dr Alice Clement, an ARC Future Fellow at the Flinders Palaeontology Lab and a co-author of the study, explains that placoderms present an extraordinary natural experiment in the early evolution of biting. Placoderms experimented with an extraordinary range of jaw shapes and biting parts during the early evolution of vertebrates, she notes, providing a rare opportunity to understand how some of the first jaws became specialised for different diets. Unlike most animals alive today, including humans, placoderms did not possess a single lower jaw bone. Instead, their jaws were built from paired bony plates supported by cartilage, with biting surfaces that ranged from broad, flat crushing plates to sharp slicing edges armed with tooth-like structures. This anatomical diversity makes them ideal subjects for investigating how jaws first became adapted to different kinds of food.

To probe that diversity, the research team employed a technique borrowed from engineering known as finite element analysis. First author Dr Rex Mitchell, of the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, together with colleagues, created digital three-dimensional models of the fossil jaw bones and then performed computer-based bite simulations on them. These simulations measure how well each jaw structure could withstand and support the forces generated during biting, effectively stress-testing extinct animals in silico. The team then compared the mechanical performance of each jaw with the anatomical complexity of its biting surface, looking for patterns that might connect jaw shape to diet and feeding behaviour across the eight species they examined.

Conventional wisdom in biomechanics holds that animals feeding on hard foods, such as shells and bone, generally evolve stronger jaws with broader, flatter crushing surfaces, much like the nutcracker jaws of modern hyenas or the durophagous dentitions of many rays and wrasses. That is not exactly what the analysis revealed. Rather than finding a simple, predictable relationship between jaw strength and surface shape, the researchers discovered something unexpected: both the largest and the smallest placoderms in the study possessed the strongest jaws for handling hard bites, despite using completely different biting tools. The smallest species had broad, almost featureless crushing plates, while the largest species carried highly complex, elevated dental surfaces that bore little resemblance to their diminutive relatives.

It was an interesting surprise, says PhD student and co-author Austin Fitzpatrick. Both the smallest and largest animals had evolved strong jaws, he explains, but they had solved the problem of processing harder foods in completely different ways. The key to this paradox, the researchers suggest, lies in the relationship between predator and prey body size when the prey in question is wrapped in tough exterior armour. A small placoderm confronting a small armoured prey item did not need to break it apart at all. The prey could simply be engulfed whole and then pulverised between broad, flat biting plates, much as some modern fish swallow and crush small shelled invertebrates. Strength was essential, but anatomical complexity was not.

Larger prey presented an entirely different challenge. An armoured animal too big to fit inside a predator’s mouth first had to be broken into manageable pieces before it could be eaten. That requirement demanded more elaborate dental architecture, capable of first piercing through shell or armour before crushing the remains. The largest species in the study possessed teeth arranged along a raised bony crest, forming a structure that the researchers describe as strikingly similar to the heads of medieval armour-piercing weapons such as war hammers and poleaxes. This fearsome configuration suggests the fish used its jaws to puncture the protective coverings of its prey before breaking them apart, functioning less like a nutcracker and more like a can opener followed by a hammer.

The broader significance of the finding is that hard-object feeding among Earth’s earliest jawed vertebrates was not achieved through a single evolutionary solution. Evolution, in other words, produced a diversity of jaw designs that allowed different placoderm species to exploit different prey within the same ancient reef ecosystem, a pattern ecologists call niche separation. Two species could both be powerful biters specialised for hard-shelled food, yet occupy genuinely different ecological roles depending on what they could fit in their mouths and how they had to dismantle it. This paints a picture of the Devonian reef as a complex, ecologically structured environment in which early vertebrates were already carving out specialised feeding niches hundreds of millions of years before the first tetrapods crawled onto land.

The study also reinforces the central place of placoderms in the story of human evolution. Flinders Emeritus Professor John Long, a co-author who has worked at the Western Australian fossil site for 40 years and found some of the specimens used in this study, emphasises that since 2013 placoderms have been directly linked to our own lineage as the starting point of the line leading from fishes to humans. Understanding placoderms, he argues, is now vital to revealing the origins of the human body plan. Their jaws, in particular, represent the evolutionary foundation upon which all later vertebrate mouths, from shark snouts to human faces, were ultimately built, making every new insight into how these structures functioned a contribution to a deeply personal chapter of natural history.

Technically, the study demonstrates the growing power of combining finite element analysis with comparative three-dimensional morphology to answer ecological questions that fossils alone cannot resolve. By measuring jaw strength numerically and then mapping it against surface complexity, the team could infer not only what these extinct fish ate but also how large their prey must have been relative to their own bodies, turning bite mechanics into a proxy for ancient food webs. The work, supported by the Australian Research Council through Discovery Projects funding, contributes to a growing picture of niche separation and ecological specialisation in the ancient Devonian reef. It shows that within a few tens of millions of years of jaws first appearing, vertebrates had already diversified into an impressive array of feeding specialists, from whole-swallowing crushers to armour-piercing giants, foreshadowing the extraordinary ecological breadth of jawed vertebrates that continues to this day.

Subject of Research: Feeding mechanics and jaw evolution in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo Formation, Western Australia

Article Title: Jaws tell tales: How ancient armoured fish munched prey whole

Article References: Jaws tell tales: How ancient armoured fish munched prey whole. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: placoderms, Devonian, Gogo Formation, jaw evolution, finite element analysis, hard-object feeding, palaeontology, Flinders University, vertebrate evolution, fossil fish, predator-prey relationships, ancient reefs

The core idea is that lobster abundance is tightly linked to what supports their food web. If the trophic pathways feeding lobsters strengthen, energy can move upward through the ecosystem; if they weaken, lobster recruitment and survival should follow. Rather than relying on complex, data-heavy ecosystem models, the team proposes a simpler metric designed to capture this transfer efficiently.

Technically, the trophic transfer index is built from predator–prey linkages and trophic positions, effectively estimating how much energy or biomass potential can flow from prey communities to lobster consumers. The index is intended to summarize whether the surrounding food resources are positioned to sustain lobster growth over relevant time scales.

Using the index in analyses of spiny lobster fishery dynamics, the authors report that it can track changes in population indicators and better reflect how ecological conditions translate into fishery outcomes. The method aims to improve responsiveness—helping managers anticipate shifts earlier than they could with slower-moving indicators alone.

A key advantage is practicality. Many regions lack the long time series or fine-scale ecological measurements required for traditional modeling frameworks. By grounding predictions in trophic structure, the index reduces the dependency on extensive parameter tuning.

The paper also suggests that trophic forcing can serve as a bridge between ecosystem change and harvest performance. In other words, environmental variability that reshapes prey availability or community structure may propagate through the food web and become visible in lobster fisheries.

For decision-makers, the result is a tool that is conceptually transparent and operationally feasible. With further calibration and continued monitoring, the trophic transfer index could support adaptive management by linking ecological signals to stock status.

Looking ahead, the authors note that future work should test the framework across regions and incorporate additional ecological drivers such as habitat variation and fishing pressure. Still, the headline remains: a simple diet-based metric can carry surprising predictive power.

Subject of Research: Spiny lobster fishery dynamics and trophic ecology
Article Title: A simple trophic transfer index predicts spiny lobster fishery dynamics
Article References: Blanco-Bercial, L., Taboada, F.G., Pitt, J.M. et al. A simple trophic transfer index predicts spiny lobster fishery dynamics. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03823-2
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03823-2
Keywords: Spiny lobster; trophic transfer; food web; fishery dynamics

The North Chinese leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis), a subspecies that has adapted to the challenging environments of northern China, has been placed in a precarious situation due to habitat encroachment and fragmentation. This majestic big cat, second only in stealth and adaptability to its cousin, the common leopard, is forced to navigate a landscape increasingly riddled with urban developments, agriculture, and other anthropogenic pressures. The study reveals that as human presence increases, the spatial overlap between these leopards and their primary prey—wild ungulates—diminishes significantly.

The research underscores the fundamental relationship between predator and prey, which has evolved over millennia. In natural settings, predator-prey dynamics regulate ecosystems, maintaining balance and fostering biodiversity. However, when human activities such as agriculture, construction, and industrialization disrupt these interactions, it initiates a ripple effect that can jeopardize both species involved. The North Chinese leopard, as a top predator, plays a pivotal role in controlling ungulate populations, thus influencing plant communities and overall habitat health.

Through meticulous field studies and sophisticated spatial modeling, Wang’s team investigated the effects of human activities on the movement patterns of both the leopards and their ungulate counterparts, identified as deer species within the region. Their findings indicate a staggering shift in the areas where these animals coexist, raising alarms regarding future conservation efforts. Both species are being forced into increasingly fragmented habitats, undermining their chances for survival and successful reproduction.

Interestingly, the study finds that the shifts are not uniform. The extent of spatial overlap is contingent upon various factors, including the type of human activity, the presence of natural corridors, and the accessibility of prey species. This nuance in the research highlights the complexities of wildlife management and conservation strategies. It becomes clear that a one-size-fits-all approach would be ineffective in addressing the local challenges posed by human encroachment.

Furthering the critical nature of this study, researchers also looked into how these changes impact the behavior of leopards. With their hunting opportunities reduced, these predators may alter their hunting strategies or move into areas considered less ideal for predation, thus affecting their health and reproductive rates. Such behavioral adaptations further complicate the ecological web, leading to unforeseen consequences in the local ecosystem dynamics.

In terms of conservation efforts, the implications of these findings are profound. As human populations continue to expand, understanding the thresholds that wildlife can withstand becomes increasingly essential. Wang and colleagues call for targeted conservation initiatives, emphasizing habitat restoration and the establishment of protected areas that account for the movement patterns of both leopards and ungulates. Mitigating human impact through sustainable practices is paramount if we are to maintain the delicate balances forged over generations.

Additionally, public awareness campaigns are critical in highlighting the plight of the North Chinese leopard. From local communities to broader audiences, increasing knowledge about the species and the impacts of human activities can galvanize support for conservation programs. Engaging with stakeholders, including farmers, urban planners, and governmental agencies, is vital for developing comprehensive strategies that safeguard both wildlife and human interests.

The success of any conservation strategy hinges on collaboration. The involvement of local communities, who often possess invaluable knowledge of the land and wildlife, cannot be overstated. This partnership can lead to innovative solutions that align the needs of wildlife with those of human populations. Engagement at all levels—from grassroots initiatives to policy-making bodies—will be essential in addressing the emergent challenges posed by human encroachment.

Ultimately, the study by Wang and colleagues serves as a clarion call for immediate action to protect the North Chinese leopard and its ecosystem. With the data collected, researchers have laid the groundwork for informed decisions that can foster coexistence between human populations and elusive wildlife. The urgency of these recommendations resonates through the current narrative of biodiversity loss and habitat degradation, underscoring the need for sustainable coexistence strategies.

As the world grapples with the consequences of rapid development and urbanization, this research highlights the intricate webs of life that can easily be disrupted by human activity. It serves as a reminder that our choices have profound impacts on wildlife and ecosystems, with implications that stretch far beyond local landscapes. Moving forward, the health of ecosystems like those inhabited by the North Chinese leopard will depend on our collective willingness to adapt our practices in the name of conservation.

In conclusion, the research conducted by Wang and his team offers a sobering yet crucial perspective on the overlap of human activity and wildlife conservation. By meticulously detailing the shifts occurring among predator-prey dynamics, it calls for a concerted effort to understand and mitigate human impact on vulnerable species. The continuation of such studies is vital for unveiling the complexities of wildlife interactions in an ever-evolving landscape, paving the way for strategies that will protect these iconic creatures in the years to come.

Ultimately, as we reflect on the delicate balance of ecosystems, it becomes increasingly clear that conservation efforts must evolve alongside human development. We must foster a harmonious relationship that respects both our needs and those of the remarkable wildlife with whom we share this planet. Only through conscious efforts to reduce our impact and promote cohabitation can we hope to maintain the beauty and diversity of our natural world for future generations.

Subject of Research: The effects of human activities on the North Chinese leopard and its ungulate prey.

Article Title: Human activities reshape the spatial overlap between North Chinese leopard and its wild ungulate prey.

Article References:

Wang, Y., Liu, M., Xia, F. et al. Human activities reshape the spatial overlap between North Chinese leopard and its wild ungulate prey.
Front Zool 21, 24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-024-00545-z

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12983-024-00545-z

Keywords: North Chinese leopard, ungulate prey, human activities, spatial overlap, conservation, ecosystem dynamics.

In 2013, a devastating outbreak of sea star wasting syndrome ravaged populations of Pisaster species along the North American West Coast, wiping out the once abundant orange and purple sea stars in the rocky intertidal zones near Monterey Peninsula. These sea stars, known for their voracious appetite for mussels, function as critical regulators of mussel populations, maintaining balance in their ecosystems. Their sudden disappearance created an ecological void, triggering a rapid and unprecedented proliferation of mussels in these intertidal habitats, with coverage expanding more than threefold within a mere three years.

This mussel population explosion translated into an unexpected ecological windfall for the nearby kelp forest ecosystems, particularly benefiting the sea otters inhabiting these areas. Long-term foraging data, meticulously collected over decades by researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, reveal that following the die-off of Pisaster, sea otters significantly increased mussel consumption, with the prey making up nearly 18 percent of their diet — a substantial rise from under seven percent previously. This dietary shift was paralleled by an increase in local sea otter numbers, which rose from a decade average of 373 individuals to over 500 within a span of just one year, reflecting the supportive role of the mussel boom in sustaining larger sea otter populations.

These findings underscore the concept of “keystone interdependence,” a novel ecological framework where predator loss in one ecosystem reverberates into adjacent systems, not solely diminishing trophic complexity but paradoxically benefiting other predators through prey surpluses. This inter-ecosystem connectivity highlights a previously underappreciated complexity in how energy and trophic interactions traverse ecosystem boundaries, suggesting that management and conservation efforts must broaden their scope to account for these multifaceted linkages.

Crucially, the study integrated extensive monitoring data from the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe), which has chronicled sea star and mussel population metrics across multiple sites for decades. MARINe’s systematic surveys authenticated the swift collapse of Pisaster following the wasting outbreak and the resultant abrupt growth in mussel coverage, providing the quantitative backbone for correlating these shifts to changes in sea otter foraging ecology. These datasets exemplify the necessity of long-term ecological monitoring to unravel complex cause-and-effect relationships in dynamic marine systems.

However, the story of mussel proliferation and predator responses is layered with ecological uncertainty. The researchers caution that the sudden mussel bonanza may be transient, as large adult mussels exceed the prey size sea stars can handle. This mismatch could impede a swift recovery of predation pressure once Pisaster populations rebound. Sea otters, meanwhile, may be forced to cascade through dietary adaptations again as they exhaust the current prey surplus. Such trophic oscillations underline the delicate balance inherent to intertidal and kelp forest ecosystems and emphasize how the loss of a single keystone species instigates rippling consequences far beyond its immediate ecological niche.

The broader context of climate variability adds another layer of complexity to these ecosystem interactions. The northeast Pacific underwent one of its most intense marine heatwaves on record between 2014 and 2016, inducing widespread kelp forest die-offs and a concurrent explosion in sea urchin populations, which exert substantial grazing pressure on kelp. Sea otters initially shifted their diets toward these abundant sea urchins. With the subsequent availability of abundant mussels post-Pisaster collapse, sea otters exhibited remarkable dietary flexibility, illustrating predator adaptability in the face of rapidly changing resource landscapes. This dynamic portrays the interplay between climate-induced habitat changes and predator-prey relationships, which collectively redefine community structures.

This research elevates the critical role of predator diversity in fostering ecosystem resilience, revealing that the preservation of multiple keystone predators across interconnected habitats can buffer ecosystems against disturbances. The insights gained here advocate for conservation strategies that transcend traditional single-habitat or single-species approaches. Instead, they prioritize holistic ecosystem management practices accounting for ecological connectivity and feedback loops that sustain biodiversity and ecosystem function under environmental stress.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s senior sea otter biologist, Leilani Konrad, states that the observed keystone interdependence provides compelling evidence that conserving predator populations in one environment can yield cascading benefits for adjacent ecosystems, bolstering overall biodiversity conservation goals. This paradigm shift offers a powerful framework for marine conservation in an era punctuated by climate extremes and rapid ecological turnover.

Furthermore, the study serves as a clarion call to the scientific and conservation communities, urging them to invest in comprehensive, ecosystem-wide monitoring programs and adopt adaptive management strategies informed by emerging ecological realities. Understanding and anticipating the cascading impacts of species declines under climate change are paramount to safeguarding marine ecosystem stability and the services they provide.

The synergy between careful scientific inquiry and ongoing long-term data collection exemplified in this study is a model for future research. It demonstrates how unforeseen ecological outcomes arise from complex interactions within and between ecosystems and how only through integrated, multi-disciplinary approaches can we decode these intricate webs.

As marine heatwaves and other anthropogenic stressors increase in frequency and intensity, the resilience of coastal ecosystems may increasingly depend on recognizing and harnessing such keystone interdependencies. This research from Monterey Bay Aquarium lights the path forward in marine ecological science, offering hope and direction for conserving the ocean’s intricately connected web of life.

Subject of Research: Animals

Article Title: Keystone interdependence: sea otter responses to a prey surplus following the collapse of a rocky intertidal predator

News Publication Date: 30-Apr-2025

Web References:
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu1028

Image Credits:
Monterey Bay Aquarium

Keywords:
Marine life, Coastal ecosystems, Mussels, Predators, Marine conservation, Biodiversity conservation, Climate change effects