Empirical studies of predator and prey behaviour

Empirical studies of predator and prey behavior need to consider that: behaviors arise from a dynamic interaction between predators and prey operating over varying spatial and temporal scales; there are a wide range of alternative, condition-dependent behaviors that can be used; there are two different levels of behavior (avoidance or encounter, and capture or escape) that require different approaches; there are ethical problems of experimenting with predation systems. Therefore empirical studies of predator and prey behavior are often field-based observational studies of more complete natural systems, involving measurements of starvation-predation risk trade-offs, targeted field-experiments and statistical methods to measure biologically significant effects and to infer causation.