Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Protozoology, KLB07006, College of Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, People's Republic of China
2. Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L6 97ZB, UK
Abstract
We propose that delayed predator–prey models may provide superficially acceptable predictions for spurious reasons. Through experimentation and modelling, we offer a new approach: using a model experimental predator–prey system (the ciliates
Didinium
and
Paramecium
), we determine the influence of past-prey abundance at a fixed delay (approx. one generation) on both functional and numerical responses (i.e. the influence of present : past-prey abundance on ingestion and growth, respectively). We reveal a nonlinear influence of past-prey abundance on both responses, with the two responding differently. Including these responses in a model indicated that delay in the numerical response drives population oscillations, supporting the accepted (but untested) notion that reproduction, not feeding, is highly dependent on the past. We next indicate how delays impact short- and long-term population dynamics. Critically, we show that although superficially the standard (parsimonious) approach to modelling can reasonably fit independently obtained time-series data, it does so by relying on biologically unrealistic parameter values. By contrast, including our fully parametrized delayed density dependence provides a better fit, offering insights into underlying mechanisms. We therefore present a new approach to explore time-series data and a revised framework for further theoretical studies.
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
18 articles.
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