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Student Introduction: Functional responses describe the relationship between an individual’s rate of consumption and food density. They have generally been divided into three types (see TYPE II and TYPE III FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE). The type I functional response is a linear increase in consumption rate as food densities rise, until reaching a maximum consumption rate. The slope of the line is equal to the consumer’s attack rate (also called the capture or searching efficiency). Examples of this type of functional response are somewhat rare; they are most commonly found in herbivore-plant interactions, and some invertebrate predator-prey interactions.

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