Attraction and predation: Group formation and persistence in a spatially distributed prey population

We explore the effects of predation on an attractant-mediated prey grouping system using a Rosenzweig-MacArthur predator-prey modeling framework.  Our explicitly spatial model uses dispersal kernels within integro-differential equations to demonstrate how the strength of response to an attractant produced by the prey affects group formation and spatial patterning.  Because empirical experiments have shown that predation can be higher on larger groups of prey, and that larger groups can offer protection from predation, we use a saturating functional response, and explore the role of predation in modifying the formation of prey aggregations.  We found that overall dynamics are dominated by the predator-prey dyanamics, regardless of space, but at high levels of prey sensitivity to attractant, predator-prey cycles are lengthened.