The Basics and Origin of Functional Response Models

Abstract

This chapter is the essential beginner’s guide to the functional response, its derivation, the various forms, its connection to other models in the literature, and what the parameters mean. It is the ground floor for the rest of the book, covering the four main types of functional response, what the parameters mean in biological terms, and how we arrived at these equations. Surprisingly, our understanding of the functional response as represented in the literature is quite muddled, with confusion ranging from the terminology used, to the various mathematical forms the functional response takes, to the biological interpretation of functional response model parameters. I provide a summary and forward-looking perspective on these issues.