Non-deterministic Predator-Prey Model with Accelerating Prey

This paper presents a data-driven, nondeterministic model of the dynamics of predator-prey interactions where the prey accelerates to a speed faster than the predator speed. The method proposed in this work predicts the probability of prey survival after a given number of approaches. The work presented here makes no assumptions about the form of the probability density function (PDF) of model parameters such as escape time, sensing range, strike distance, and strike success rate. It may therefore use empirical PDFs, i.e., those collected in biological experiments, for calculating the probability of capture. This allows for an investigation of parameters that are the most important to prey survival. A case study of the predation of larval zebrafish by adult zebrafish demonstrates the proposed technique.