// NATURE NEWS — SPAZIO & SCIENZA
Drought and disease trigger novel interactions among top predators
Nature
(2026) Cite this article
Interactions among species are increasingly recognized as key determinants of climate change impacts on ecosystems1,2,3,4,5. However, we know little about how climatic perturbations affect interactions among top vertebrate predators. Here we show that, when an emergent disease caused the decline of shared prey (rabbits), after decades of neutral co-existence a mammalian carnivore (lynx) started to prey heavily on a top predatory raptor (kites). These predation bouts occurred exclusively under drought conditions and when lynx found rabbit remains under the raptor nests, consistent with the removal of a potential competitor. Drought-induced lynx predation depressed lifetime reproductive success and triggered territory abandonment and dispersal by the raptor, suggestive of a new arms race among predators. A reduction in raptor abundance was associated with an increase in an insectivorous bird (a small owl), showing that the new interaction had the potential to reach lower trophic levels. These results underline the importance of diet flexibility and mobility as important mediators of resilience to stressors. In the future, synergistic effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors may reshape the interactions and ecological roles of many apex predators, with potential cascading consequences for whole ecosystems. A key to forecasting the future impact of global change may reside in understanding how behavioural flexibility and interacting keystone species respond to interacting shocks.
Species interactions, such as pollination or herbivory, are increasingly recognized as key drivers of climate impacts on biodiversity1,2,3,4,5. Climate change can profoundly alter biotic interactions—which in turn can reshape its impact—thus constraining species distribution6,7, imposing population declines8, driving extinctions9,10,11 and modifying food web structure, function and stability12,13. Understanding the relation between climate and biotic interactions is therefore considered an essential prerequisite for anticipating the ecosystem effects of climatic perturbations2,3. However, despite many recent advances for certain taxa and ecosystems14,15,16, we have scarce knowledge of the interplay between climate and several key interactions.
From a broader point of view, species interactions are likely to mediate a wide range of multiple interacting stressors, such as climate extremes, habitat degradation, environmental contamination, overhunting by humans or introduction of non-native species and pathogens17,18. Animals facing such stressors can either succumb (for example, decline to extinction19) or enact coping strategies that allow them to resist the stressor impact20,21. Resistance is usually attained through phenotypic plasticity and altered use of resources, such as food or habitats22,23, which may change or broaden the realized niche of a species. Such niche-rewiring has produced some recent, striking examples of species using new, unexpected foods, with positive consequences in terms of their abundance and resilience23,24,25,26. In turn, these niche alterations are likely to reshape the network of ecological interactions in which a species is embedded, with potential consequences for its supporting community. This will be particularly expected for species already involved in large networks of key interactions, such as top predators. Thus, there is a need for studies that examine how the response to multiple stressors by keystone predators repercusses on their interactions with other predators, with potential indirect consequences for lower-trophic level species.
One common interaction among predators is intraguild predation, which is the killing and consumption of species that compete for the same resource27. Intraguild predation is considered ubiquitous in food webs, widespread in guilds of top vertebrate predators28,29, and a common driver of population dynamics and communit