Predator–prey interactions paradigm: a new tool for artificial intelligence

Abstract

Predator–prey interactions are probably one of the key mechanisms for explaining the evolution of organisms in their ecosystems. Scientific fields relevant to understanding the mechanisms of these interactions are as diverse as evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, ecomorphology, molecular biology, phylogeny, neurosciences, physiology, biomechanics, and robotics. The difficulty in understanding these mechanisms lies therefore (1) in the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of this issue, and (2) in keeping up with very rapid developments in various scientific fields. This Special Issue provides an interdisciplinary approach to predator–prey interactions to identify how phenotypic traits of both types of organisms interact and how each can act as a selective pressure on the evolution of a population of organisms at the different levels of the trophic chain. Moreover, we show that confronting bodies of knowledge that a priori appear as remote as those of robotics and experimental biology or ecology may seem difficult but can provide reciprocal understanding.