Abstract
Demography and population growth are the most important subjects of population ecology and economics. Finite and intrinsic growth rates have been used as standard parameters for describing and comparing growth potentials of populations. The predation potentials of predator populations or consumption potentials of consumer populations cannot be properly described using these growth rates alone. A standard parameter is needed for the description of the predation or consumption potential, as well as for the quantitative evaluation of a predator population in an ecosystem or biological control program. We show that the finite predation rate can be the standard parameter by linking the finite rate, the stable age-stage distribution, and the age-stage specific predation rate. The finite predation rate can be used to describe and compare the predation potentials of natural enemies used in biological control and in predicting the damage potential of different pest populations to crops.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Farhadi, R., Gholizadeh, M., Chi, H. et al. Finite Predation Rate: a Novel Parameter for the Quantitative Measurement of Predation Potential of Predator at Population Level. Nat Prec (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2011.6651.1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/npre.2011.6651.1
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
How long-term mass rearing affects the quality of the Trichogramma embryophagum (Hartig) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) reared on Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) eggs
Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control (2021)
-
Effect of tomato genotypes with varying levels of susceptibility to Tetranychus evansi on performance and predation capacity of Phytoseiulus longipes
BioControl (2021)