Methods (empirical study)

12 experimental studies with predation (functional response) data were taken from the literature, for a total of 29 distinct datasets (Table 1). Where data was only available in the form of figures instead of tables, these were first digitised using the web version of WebPlotDigitizer (Rohatgi 2019). All analyses were run on Python 3.7 (Python Software Foundation (PSF) 2019), using the libraries Numpy (van der Walt et al. 2011), Pandas (McKinney 2010) and PyMC3 (Salvatier et al. 2016) for mathematical analyses; graphs were plotted using Seaborn (Michael Waskom et al. 2018) and Matplotlib (Hunter 2007). All data and code used to run the analyses and plot the figures present in this article is included in the supplementary material.
Table : Studies and datasets used in the analyses. PD indicates prey dependence, RD ratio dependence, HV Hassell-Varley, BD Beddington-DeAngelis, and O other equations not reviewed in this study. Roman numerals indicate Holling functional response form. Only equations finally recommended or identified as giving good fit by the authors of the corresponding study are mentioned in the last column.