Study
Predator-prey arms races: asymmetrical selection on predators and prey may be reduced when prey are dangerous
Brodie, Edmund D., III; Brodie, Edmund D., Jr.
BioScience, 1999
Reviews the garter snake and rough-skinned newt system, in which newts carry tetrodotoxin and some snake populations have evolved resistance, and examines what happens to the usual asymmetry when the prey can kill the predator.
- Studied in
- Thamnophis sirtalis, Taricha granulosa
- Sample size
- review of the garter snake and newt system
Where prey are dangerous, a failed attack can be fatal for the predator too, and the life–dinner asymmetry weakens. Snake resistance and newt toxicity are matched geographically, with highly toxic newts occurring where highly resistant snakes do.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The stakes on each side, rather than the roles of predator and prey as such, determine how symmetric an arms race is.
How NatureHQ reads it
The best-documented reciprocal escalation in the literature, and the one that keeps the arms-race page from overstating its own central principle. The geographic matching is what makes it evidence rather than a story: toxicity and resistance vary together across populations.
- One system, studied in unusual depth, which makes it a demonstration rather than a survey.
- Whether the geographic pattern reflects ongoing coevolution everywhere or historical variation is debated.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-03.