The fundamentals of predator–prey interactions

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of the consumer-resource link, the idea that each species in a community consumes resources and is itself consumed by other species. The consumer–resource link is the fundamental building block from which more-complex food chains and food webs are constructed. The chapter continues by exploring what is arguably the simplest consumer–resource interaction—one predator species feeding on one species of prey. Important topics discussed in the context of predator–prey interactions are the predator’s functional response, the Lotka–Volterra predator–prey model, the Rosenzweig–MacArthur predator–prey model, and the suppression-stability trade-off. Isocline analysis is introduced as a method for visualizing the outcome of species interactions at steady-state or equilibrium. Herbivory and parasitism are briefly discussed within the context of general predator–prey models.