Affiliation:
1. Coastal and Marine Institute and Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA
Abstract
The functional response of a consumer to a gradient of resource density is a widespread and consistent framework used to quantify the importance of consumption to population dynamics and stability. Within benthic marine ecosystems, both crustaceans and fishes can provide strong top-down pressure on prey populations. Taxon-specific differences in biomechanics or habitat use, among other factors, may lead to variable functional response forms or parameter values (attack rate, handling time). Based on a review of 189 individual functional response fits, we find that these predator guilds differ in their frequency distribution of functional response types, with crustaceans exhibiting nearly double the proportion of sigmoidal, density-dependent functional responses (Holling type III) as predatory fishes. The implications of this finding for prey population stability are significant because type III responses allow prey persistence while type II responses are de-stabilizing and can lead to extinction. Comparing
per capita
predation rates across diverse taxa can provide integrative insights into predatory effects and the ability of predation to drive community structure.
Funder
National Marine Fisheries Service
California Sea Grant, University of California
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Cited by
38 articles.
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