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A behavioral model of predator‐prey functional responses
Author(s) -
Holling C. S.,
Buckingham Sandra
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830210305
Subject(s) - predation , stability (learning theory) , action (physics) , block (permutation group theory) , computer science , ecology , functional response , predator , mathematical optimization , mathematics , biology , machine learning , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics
A generalized simulation model of the predation process is described in detail. It was developed from an experimental analysis of the action and interaction of the basic and subsidiary components of predation. Eight qualitatively distinct classes of predation can be identified, together with the biological conditions for each. With that classification, it is possible to compress the complexity into a tested and analytically tractable equation of predation that has broad descriptive power. Such an equation can serve as a building block to develop ecosystem simulations whose stability properties can be explored rigorously.