Reconstruction of interspecies relations in the models of population dynamics based on individual-oriented approach

The subject of the article is to establish the relationship between trophic functions as properties of interacting populations as a whole and the characteristics of individual foraging behavior of consumers. The article classifies general predator–prey models and trophic functions as integral components of these models. It is shown that simple assumptions about the individual behavior of predators and prey lead to a specific type of trophic function – the piecewise linear Arditi–Ginzburg dependence or its “smoothed” version. The obtained theoretical results are verified using an original simulation model representing the interaction between the consumer and food objects at the individual level.