12. Modern Predator-Prey Models

What will you learn in this lecture:

• The major limitations of the Lotka-Volterra approach and how to relax those limiting and/or false assumptions to lead to more realistic models.
• The conditions necessary for stable coexistence in a predator-prey system.

Enrolled students of fall 2025 should watch this lecture before November 4.

What questions should you be able to answer now?

• Why is it necessary to adjust the classical Lotka-Volterra model?
• What are the outcomes of the advanced model and what does it depend on?
• Is it possible to observe those different outcomes in the real world?

Useful links and materials:
Chapter 11 in: Krebs, Charles J. Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance.

Featured image: It looks like things might have gone better for Wile E. Coyote if he had decided to switch prey... (Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are Looney Tunes characters created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese)