Space race functional responses

Sjödin, H., Brännström, Å., & Englund, G. (2015). Space race functional responses. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282 (1801) p. 20142121. 10.1098/rspb.2014.2121.

Preview

Text SjodinEtal2014_SpaceRaceA4.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (276kB) | Preview

Abstract

We derive functional responses under the assumption that predators and prey are engaged in a space race in which prey avoid patches with many predators and predators avoid patches with few or no prey. The resulting functional response models have a simple structure and include functions describing how the emigration of prey and predators depend on interspecific densities. As such, they provide a link between dispersal behaviors and community dynamics. The derived functional response is general but is here modeled in accordance with empirically documented emigration responses. We find that the prey emigration response to predators has stabilizing effects similar to that of the DeAngelis-Beddington functional response, and that the predator emigration response to prey has destabilizing effects similar to that of the Holling type II response. A stabiliy criterion describing the net effect of the two emigration responses on a Lotka-Volterra predator-prey system is presented. The winner of the space race (i.e. whether predators or prey are favoured) is determined by the relationship between the slopes of the species- migration responses. It is predicted that predators win the space race in poor habitats, where predator and prey densities are low, and that prey are more successful in richer habitats.

Actions (login required)

View Item