Travis J M J, Palmer S C F
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Hill of Brathens, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, UK.
Biol Lett. 2005 Jun 22;1(2):136-8. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2004.0293.
Theoretical models frequently assume that the rate at which a searching predator encounters prey increases linearly with prey density. In a recent experiment using great tits searching for winter moth caterpillars, the time to find the first prey item did not decline as quickly with density as the standard theory assumes. Using a spatial simulation model, we show that prey aggregation and/or spatially correlated searching behaviour by the predator can generate a range of relationships, including results that are qualitatively similar to those found in the great tit experiment. We suggest that further experiments are required to determine whether the explanation proposed here is correct, and that theoretical work is needed to determine how this behaviour is likely to influence the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of predator-prey communities.
理论模型常常假定，搜寻猎物的捕食者遇到猎物的速率会随猎物密度呈线性增加。在最近一项使用大山雀搜寻冬尺蠖毛虫的实验中，找到首个猎物所需的时间并未像标准理论所假定的那样随密度快速下降。通过一个空间模拟模型，我们表明猎物聚集和/或捕食者的空间相关搜寻行为能够产生一系列关系，包括与在大山雀实验中所发现结果在性质上相似的结果。我们建议需要进一步开展实验来确定这里提出的解释是否正确，并且需要开展理论研究来确定这种行为可能如何影响捕食者 - 猎物群落的生态和进化动态。
