Predator‐prey Encounter Rates in Turbulent Environments: Consequences of Inertia Effects and Finite Sizes

Experimental as well as theoretical studies have demonstrated that turbulence can play an important role for the biosphere in marine environments, in particular also by affecting prey predator encounter rates. Reference models for the encounter rates rely on simplifying assumptions of predators and prey being described as point particles moving passively with the local flow velocity. Based on simple arguments that can be tested experimentally we propose corrections for the standard expression for the encounter rates, where now finite sizes and Stokes drag effects are included.