We study a neural model of arachnid prey orientation sensing with a view to potentially using the model in Robotics. The model has been implemented using the Brian spiking neural simulator and incorporates a physics simulation of the arachnid with a simple motor model that translates sensory signals from the neural model into movement to orient towards the prey. The arachnid behaviour repertoir...

We model the effects of both stochastic and deterministic temperature variations on arthropod predator-prey systems. Specifically, we study the stochastic dynamics of arthropod predator-prey interactions under a vary ing temperature regime, and we develop an individual model of a prey under pressure from a predator, with vigilance (or foraging effort), search rates, at tack rates, and other pre...

A bacterial predator-prey interaction was studied using Bdellovibrio and bioluminescent prey bacteria. The attacking bdellovibrio causes decay of bioluminescence, which is correlated with bdellovibrio penetration into the prey. The behavior of the prey and predator populations over time was found to be well described by a Lotka-Volterra model. By using this model, the probability of bdellovibri...

We determined the responses of a model laboratory community to resource enrichment and compared these responses to the predictions of prey-dependent and ratiodependent food chain models. Our model community consisted of Escherichia coli B and bacteriophage T4 in chemostats supplied with different concentrations of glucose. We observed the following responses to enrichment: (1) a large and highl...

— Social foraging shows unexpected features such as the existence of a group size threshold to accomplish a successful hunt. Above this threshold, additional individuals do not increase the probability of capturing the prey. Recent direct observations of wolves (Canis lupus) in Yellowstone Park show that the group size threshold when hunting its most formidable prey, bison (Bison bison), is nea...

Feeding success is essential to larval fish survival. We present detailed mechanistic models of the foraging processes (prey encounter, approach, pursuit, and capture) in larval fish, where all parameters have explicit physical or biological meaning. The model is a unification of the processes believed to be important to prey selectivity and environmental regulation of feeding in fish. We inclu...

Diet of adult pikeperch Sander lucioperca, Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis, northern pike Esox lucius and European catfish Silurus glanis as top predators in aquatic ecosystems in Serbia was investigated during 2011, in order to understand their relationship to their prey and to investigate their food consumption, feeding and assimilation rate, cannibalism, and habitat segregation. Northern pi...

t f m Immunological methods have been widely used to identify key predator species and qualitatively evaluate predation of target prey. However, despite the quantitative nature of many immunoassays, the translation to number of prey attacked has been problematic because of the many factors that confound interpretation of the strength of the immunoassay response. We developed a new predation mod...

Wolf restoration has become a widely accepted conservation and management practice throughout North America and Europe, though the ecosystem effects of returning top carnivores remain both scientific and societal controversies. Mathematical models predicting and describing wolf-ungulate interactions are typically limited to the wolves' primary prey, with the potential for prey switching in wolf...

We study the qualitative properties of population cycles in a predator-prey system where genetic variability allows contemporary rapid evolution of the prey. Previous numerical studies have found that prey evolution in response to changing predation risk can have major quantitative and qualitative effects on predator-prey cycles, including: (1) large increases in cycle period, (2) changes in ph...