Figure 1

The distribution of unbiased mutual interference values in the literature. A. The distribution of m estimates gathered from studies in the literature that used the unbiased approaches of Methods 2 and 3 (see "Approaches to estimating mutual interference" for details). This histogram shows that most estimates of mutual interference cover continuously the range from a little above 0 to a little below -1. Two estimates were particularly large, at -2, but were highly precise and thus cannot be dismissed as errors. The special cases of prey dependence, when m = 0, and ratio dependence, when m = -1, are shown, and although both occur, intermediate interference is the most common state. B. A comparison of the distribution for the two unbiased approaches. Both approaches overall produce similar histograms, but the large values of -2 were produced using Method 3.