Biology 3446B Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Functional Response
Document Summary
Factors influencing vulnerability of prey: habitat quality. Habitat provides poor or lack of escape over near other resources, or poor visibility for predator detection exposes animals to increased predation. Prey = vulnerable during inclement weather or seasons when limited habitat resources force them to use areas where they are more exposed: decrease animal quality at increase prey densities. Decreased prey alertness, and ability to escape or fight may result from intrinsic or extrinsic density dependent factors. Extrinsic factors: scarcity of food quality when prey population is high. Prey with dominance hierarchies subordinate animals affected most severely. Intrinsic factors: fighting and injuries to prey making them more vulnerable to predation: dispersal of subordinate prey animals in poor habitats. In territorial prey species, subordinate animals are forces into poor habitats where they are more vulnerable to predation. As prey population increase, a greater proportion of population will be in poor habitat: the evolved predator-evasion strategy of prey.