Classic prey optimal foraging model assumes that individual predators are globally omniscient; that is, they have exact knowledge of prey population densities in the environment. This study examines a spatially explicit individual-based model of a one-predator two-prey system where individual predators are assumed to be omniscient only locally, i.e., to know prey population densities only in the range of their perception. Due to local variations in prey numbers, the probability of acceptance of less profitable prey shifts from the zero-one rule to a gradually decreasing function, for which an explicit formula is derived, giving way to partial preferences. A corresponding predator functional response to more profitable prey is shown to have a sigmoid-like form.

Department of Theoretical Biology Institute of Entomology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Faculty of Biological Sciences University of South Bohemia Branisovská 31 Ceské Budejovice 370 05 Czech Republic

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Game-theoretic methods for functional response and optimal foraging behavior