The Effect of Alternative Prey on the Functional Response of Notonecta Hoffmani

Ecology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1227-1235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Chesson
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Alternative Prey

Alternative Prey and Abundance Covariance Switches an Intraguild Predator’s Functional Response

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Del Bianco Faria ◽  
Juliana Tuller ◽  
Laís Ferreira Maia ◽  
Carolina Reigada ◽  
Wesley Augusto Conde Godoy
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Alternative Prey

The food of the silvereye, Zosterops gouldi (Aves : Zosteropidae), in relation to its role as a vector of a granulosis virus of the potato moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae)

1973 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 533 ◽  
Author(s):  
JN Matthiessen ◽  
BP Springett
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Response Curve ◽  
Larval Density ◽  
Phthorimaea Operculella ◽  
Alternative Prey ◽  
Granulosis Virus ◽  
Potential Vector ◽  
Large Numbers

The silvereye feeds in farmland in south-western Western Australia, eating mainly arthropods. Larvae of the potato moth are regularly a major summer food, and the silvereye shows a well-defined functional response to larval density. The silvereye functional response curve differs from the characteristic vertebrate sigmoid-shaped curve in that it lacks the initial positively accelerating portion. This is attributed to the occurrence of prey in many discrete habitats, combined with silvereye mobility and its sensitive response to low potato moth larval densities. The number of potato moth larvae that are eaten is reduced when a larger alternative prey is available, but the numerical proportion of larvae in the food remains unchanged. The silvereye is a potential vector of a granulosis virus of the potato moth through its regular predation on larvae of the potato moth, its large numbers, and its mobility.

Numerical and functional response of feral cats (Felis catus) to variations in abundance of primary prey on Stewart Island (Rakiura), New Zealand

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant A. Harper
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Functional Response ◽  
Small Mass ◽  
Felis Catus ◽  
Prey Abundance ◽  
Seasonal Abundance ◽  
Alternative Prey ◽  
Feral Cats ◽  
Prey Biomass ◽  
Seasonal Depressions

Few studies of populations of feral cats have simultaneously monitored the seasonal abundance of primary prey and the possible ‘prey-switch’ to alternative prey when primary prey abundance declines. On Stewart Island, when the abundance of feral cats’ primary prey, rats (Rattus spp.), was very low, significantly more cats died or left the study area than when rats were abundant. Cats preferentially preyed on rats regardless of rat abundance. Birds were the main alternative prey but cats did not prey-switch to birds when rat abundance was low, possibly owing to the difficulty of capture, and small mass, of birds compared with rats. On Stewart Island numbers of feral cats are restricted by seasonal depressions in abundance of their primary prey, coupled with limited alternative prey biomass.

scholarly journals Revisiting the influence of learning in predator functional response, how it can lead to shapes different from type III.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavio Bruzzone ◽  
María Aguirre ◽  
Jorge Hill ◽  
Eduardo Virla ◽  
Guillermo Logarzo
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Learning Curves ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Type I ◽  
Alternative Prey ◽  
Sigmoid Function ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Type Iii ◽  
Predator Learning ◽  
Biological Taxa

Abstract Predator/Parasitoid functional response is one of the main tools used to study predation behaviour, and in assessing the potential of biological control candidates. It is generally accepted that predator learning in prey searching and manipulation can produce the appearance of type III functional response. Holling proposed that in the presence of alternative prey, at some point the predator would shift the preferred prey, leading to the appearance of a sigmoid function that characterized that functional response. This is supported by the analogy between enzyme kinetics and functional response that Holling used as the basis for developing this theory. However, after several decades, sigmoidal functional responses appear in the absence of alternative prey in most of the biological taxa studied. Here, we propose modelling the effect of learning on the functional response by using the explicit incorporation of learning curves in the parameters of the Holling functional response, the attack rate (a), and the manipulation time (h). We then study how the variation in the parameters of the learning curves causes variations in the shape of the functional response curve. We found that the functional response product of learning can be either type I, II or III, depending on what parameters act on the organism, and how much it can learn throughout the length of the study. Therefore the presence of other types of curves should not be automatically associated with the absence of learning. These results are important from an ecological point of view because when type III functional response is associated with learning, it is generally accepted that it can operate as a stabilizing factor in population dynamics. Our results, to the contrary, suggest that depending on how it acts, it may even be destabilizing by generating the appearance of functional responses close to type I.

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