Conclusions

While predator-prey relationships are central to all ecological modelling of population dynamics, a mathematically consistent equation to represent these relationships has proved elusive. This research showed that the vast majority of the most common equations currently in use in both theoretical and empirical (field) ecological research fail to meet several basic criteria for mathematical consistency. We propose a list of such criteria to facilitate the evaluation of predation equations developed in the future and propose a new equation that does meet these criteria. The empirical evaluation of the new proposed equation also suggests that it is more robust to varying functional response forms found in different ecological contexts.