Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Functional response
open-in-new
<p>A functional response in <a href="/facts/Ecology/YE8upuJU">ecology</a> is the intake rate of a <a href="/facts/Heterotroph/wtzlgBtz">consumer</a> as a <a href="/facts/Function_(mathematics)/CdReEKCh">function</a> of food density (the amount of food available in a given <a href="/facts/Ecotope/pVT2KV9d">ecotope</a>). It is associated with the <a href="/facts/Numerical_response/Wyxle6zb">numerical response</a>, which is the <a href="/facts/Reproduction/nNu0F5Dy">reproduction</a> rate of a consumer as a function of food density. Following <a href="/facts/C._S._Holling/76MvywqK">C. S. Holling</a>, functional responses are generally classified into three types, which are called Holling's type I, II, and III. These were formulated using laboratory experiments where participants collected disks from a board of increasing disk density. Thus, the resulting formulae are often referred to as Holling's Disk Equations. </p>