OHS & EIU Students Partner for Science Lab
Oakland HS science students were recently joined by students from Eastern Illinois University to conduct a lab on "The Functional Response of a Predator".
Utilizing M&M's as prey, students played the role of predator with specific directions on timing and numbers of prey that predators encounter. Generally, predators increase the rate at which they consume prey as the density of prey increases. However, after a certain prey density is reached, the rate of prey consumption levels off.
Students studied the handling time per prey, since there is a limit to how fast they can "process" prey items. This was represented by the number and speed of each candy being consumed by the student (predator). Data was collected so students could compare the results they got to actual data obtained in field studies of this concept.