One of the most troubling aspects of ecosystem models is the use of rather arbitrary feeding and preference functions. The predictions of plankton functional type models have been shown to be highly sensitive to the choice of foraging model, particularly in multiple prey situations. Here we propose ecological mechanics and evolutionary logic as a solution to diet selection in ecosystem models. ...

Lions Panthera leo are generally thought to prey on medium to large ungulates. Knowledge of which species are actually preferred and which are avoided is lacking, however, as is an understanding of why such preference or avoidance may arise. An analysis of 32 studies over 48 different spatial locations or temporal periods throughout the distribution of the lion shows that it preferentially prey...

Because background matching improves concealment, prey animals have traditionally been expected to prefer parts of the habitat that match their visual appearance. However, empirical support for this is scarce. Moreover, this idea has recently been challenged by an alternative hypothesis: visual complexity of the background impedes prey detection, and hence prey could instead prefer complex part...

Many predators and parasites eavesdrop on the communication signals of their prey. Eavesdropping is typically studied as dyadic predator-prey species interactions; yet in nature, most predators target multiple prey species and most prey must evade multiple predator species. The impact of predator communities on prey signal evolution is not well understood. Predators could converge in their pref...