Journal Article
The Orgins and Evolution of Predator-Prey Theory
Alan A. Berryman
Ecology
Vol. 73, No. 5 (Oct., 1992), pp. 1530-1535
Published
by: Wiley on behalf of the Ecological Society of America
DOI: 10.2307/1940005
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1940005
Page Count: 6
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Topics: Predators, Functional responses, Logistics, Isoclines, Population dynamics, Paradoxes, Rates of change, Animal ecology, Ecological balance
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Abstract
Predator-prey theory is traced from its origins in the Malthus-Verhulst logistic equations, through the Lotka-Volterra equations, logistic modifications to both prey and predator equations, incorporation of the Michaelis-Menten-Holling functional response into the predator and prey equations, and the recent development of ratio-dependent functional responses and per-capita rate of change functions. Some of the problems of classical predator--prey theory, including the paradoxes of enrichment and biological control, seem to have been caused by the application of the principle of mass action to predator--prey interactions. Predator--prey models that evolved from logistic theory or that incorporate ratio-dependent functional responses do not have these problems and also seem to be more biologically plausible.
Ecology © 1992 Wiley