The numerical response: rate of increase and food limitation in herbivores and predators
- 29 September 2002
- journal article
- review article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
- Vol. 357 (1425), 1233-1248
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2002.1124
Abstract
Two types of numerical response function have evolved since Solomon first introduced the term to generalize features of Lotka–Volterra predator–prey models: (i) the demographic numerical response, which links change in consumer demographic rates to food availability; and (ii) the isocline numerical response, which links consumer abundance per se to food availability. These numerical responses are interchangeable because both recognize negative feedback loops between consumer and food abundance resulting in population regulation. We review how demographic and isocline numerical responses have been used to enhance our understanding of population regulation of kangaroos and possums, and argue that their utility may be increased by explicitly accounting for non–equilibrium dynamics (due to environmental variability and/or biological interactions) and the existence of multiple limiting factors. Interferential numerical response functions may help bridge three major historical dichotomies in population ecology (equilibrium versus non–equilibrium dynamics, extrinsic versus intrinsic regulation and demographic versus isocline numerical responses).Keywords
This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Setting thresholds for pest control: how does pest density affect resource viability?Biological Conservation, 2001
- Population dynamics of large and small mammalsOikos, 2001
- Predicting the wolf-prey equilibrium pointCanadian Journal of Zoology, 1999
- Does risk of predation influence population dynamics? Evidence from cyclic decline of snowshoe haresWildlife Research, 1995
- Litterfall under hinau,Elaeocarpus dentatus, in lowland podocarp/ mixed hardwood forest, and the impact of brushtail possums,Trichosurus vulpeculaNew Zealand Journal of Botany, 1991
- Suppression of fruit production of the endemic forest tree,Elaeocarpus dentatus, by introduced marsupial brushtail possums,Trichosurus vulpeculaNew Zealand Journal of Botany, 1990
- Density Dependence and Survival of Elk in Northwestern WyomingThe Journal of Wildlife Management, 1983
- POPULATION STATISTICS OF CHAMOISMammalia, 1970
- A Mathematical Model for the Effect of Densities of Attacked and Attacking Species on the Number AttackedThe Canadian Entomologist, 1959
- Productivity and Yield of the George Reserve Deer HerdThe Journal of Wildlife Management, 1948