Predators and prey SIMULATING FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE OF A PREDATOR 1.Which of the t

Question

Predators and prey

SIMULATING FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE OF A PREDATOR

1.Which of the three types of functional response curves showing in Figure 1 does your data plot most resemble? Does this make sense, given the rules of the simulation?

the curve was type II response

2. How did your expected functional response curve match the graph of your observations? Propose hypotheses to explain any discrepancies between the two.

3.If two nuts were placed on each bolt to simulate a prey harder to process and consume, how would you expect the functional response curve to change? Illustrate your answer with a small drawing

4. outline a method for an expirment with real predators ( such as preying mantises fed wit crickets) to test hollings model for predator functional responses.

5. why does a strong search image produce an S-shaped functional response curve? if one predator were breeding on many prey species, would this kind of functional response tend to increase or decrease biodiversity? explain

Functional response of predators to prey abundance (class) 25 20.84 20.25 3 20 14.59 15 10.02 10 10 20 prey density FIG 1. Class value of functional response of predators to prey abundance Except value of Functional response of predators to prey abundance (class) 6.79 6.3963 5.821 4.93 3.387 4 1 20 10 25 15 prey density

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

1. The data resembles Type II response curve. Type II follows Holling's disc equation and assumes processing of food and searching for food are mutually exclusive events.
So it follows simulation rules, . If handling time is long in comparison to searching time, then it can become a limiting factor for a predator’s consumption rate as prey density increases. When plotted against prey density, capture rate levels off in the type 2 response.

2. If we go with Fig 3 my curve, we observe that the prey density is 5 then the number of prey consumed is 8 and if it is 10 then 12, if 20 then 16 so we can say that that is follwoing a rectangular hyperbola, the pnly exception would be when it is 15 the prey consumed is reduced a little to 11. But again the class value graph should a steady increase in prey consumption.

3. In this case i think the graph will change towards Type III response.At low prey density levels, the graphical relationship of number of prey consumed and the density of the prey population is a more than linearly increasing function of prey consumed by predators. This accelerating function is largely descriptive, and often justified by learning time, prey switching, or a combination of both phenomena, but the type III functional response lacks the rigorous theoretical underpinning of the type II functional response.

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