Nonlinear Curve Fitting: Predation and Functional Response Curves

Abstract The number of prey that an individual predator kills (or the number of hosts a parasitoid attacks) is a function of prey density and is known as the functional response (Holling 1966). In general, the number of prey killed in a fixed time approaches an asymptote as prey density increases (Holling 1966). There are at least three types of curves that can be used to model the functional response (Holling 1966; Taylor 1984; Trexler et al. 1988) that represent differences in the proportion of available prey killed in a fixed time.