The recent success or failure at capturing and consuming prey can have tremendous influence on a natural enemy’s foraging behavior and subsequently, its functional response to prey. However, the classic equations and prey-density framework of current functional response models do not allow for the explicit inclusion of foraging behavior and the potential effects of previous experience. We present a probability-based model of the functional response that explicitly makes the probability of predation a function of recent predation attempts. These recursion models use different foraging behavior rules to produce functional response curves comparable to classic patterns from theoretical and empirical investigations of predation. We find that some behavioral rules produce novel functional response curves, while others produce curves with the same properties as those from classic equations but by modeling different behavioral mechanisms. These models present the opportunity to reinterpret functional response patterns, predict potential patterns generated by different biological systems, and in general better understand the potential role of predator experience in shaping the functional response.
Keywords: foraging behavior, multiple prey
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