3 ms·

Why can't the predators evolve to have the same cycle as the cicadas, with a prime number of years?

• redthrowaway 16y ago
  They can, but by being so highly variable, the cicada boom cycle becomes a less important survival driver than other factors, such as predator cycles, weather, etc. In a closely-paired ecosystem, with relatively few variables, you do see remarkable coevolution between predators and prey. When the prey removes their boom cycle from the dominant evolutionary stressors on the predator, differential survival of the predator will be determined far more by the dominant factors. It's important to note that, for the cicada, they are not a staple diet but rather an opportunistic one that occurs only once in a few generations. This means that the predator's cycle would have to skip generations in order to be effective. This is unlikely, given that that cycle would have no evolutionary advantage in the intermediary, and would thus be diluted by more pressing concerns.