ABSTRACT
Imagine a world in which small fish prefer living on the surface and escape big fish, and in which big fish prefer living at the bottom of the ocean and pursue small fish (see figure 17.1). This is not a totally unrealistic world (Giske et al., 1998). It defines a pursuit evasion game, which is a part of mathematical game theory (Nahin, 2007). Nor is it anecdotal ecological theory; the possibility of an ecology of fear has already been examined (Brown et al., 1999). A game theoretical approach can be applied to habitat selection by predators and prey (Hugie and Dill, 1994), the relationship between fish foraging and habitat choice, (Mittlebach, 2002), and a re-examination of the ideal free distribution theory under predation risk (Moody et al., 1996).
