Summary
Invertebrate predators and parasitoids have long been characterized as having a hyperbolic (Type 2) functional response. Modifications were made to Holling's sand paper disc experiment which consisted of limiting the initial period of search during which a host must be contacted. Failure to contact a host during this initial period causes the predator to emigrate from the search area. The modification generated a sigmoid (Type 3) functional response. This response resulted from the low probability of encountering a host during the initial period of search at low host densities in the time allotted. A limited period of search has been found in several insect parasitoids. Such a strategy would minimize the time (energy) spent per offspring produced by minimizing the time invested in searching microhabitats in which hosts are scarce or absent.
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The work was supported in part by NSF Grant DEB-75-04223 and by a grant from the Netherlands Dranization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO).
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Luck, R.F., van Lenteren, J.C., Twine, P.H. et al. Prey or host searching behavior that leads to a sigmoid functional response in invertebrate predators and parasitoids. Res Popul Ecol 20, 257–264 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02512631
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02512631