The question was asked of Ecolog-L readers:

• simple multi-species interaction
• Newtonian physics. No Allee effect.
• Two-species predator-prey model demonstrating oscillating population cycles (or a chemical cycling model).
• irrelevant
• predator-prey and lots of math
• First, I usually see LV EQUATION, not theory. Differential equations, population or community dynamics.
• competition, math, difficult concept
• A non-concept that bears no resemblance to reality. It's easy and fun, though.
• predator prey dynamics
• Seriously? Aaaaaahhhhhhh. That was a sad, desperate cry of miserable not-understanding. It's been a couple of years since I left grad school, so I've forgotten what Lotka-Volterra was all about, exactly, but I'm not sure I ever had a really solid grasp on it.
• math models, predator prey, population dynamics
• Predator-prey model
• Old-fashioned (at least concerning predator-prey models), but still mathematical interesting (since analytically treatable).
• Simple mathematical model of interspecific competition. Species will coexist only if intraspecific competition is more intense than interspecific competition.
• predator prey relationship illustrated by population oscillations of lynx and hare
• Simplistic.
• something about community ecology
• I've heard of it, I think -- need to look it up.
• First thought: A classical predator-prey model showing neutrally stable cycles. I secondarily thought of the Lotka-Volterra competition model, and then of extensions of the L-V predator-prey model which lack the problem of neutral stability, but these thoughts were probably not quick enough to qualify as "word association".
• populations and competitive exclusion connected to Gauss
• population model; predator-prey
• Predator-prey interactions.
• population growth and decline in interacting predator and prey populations
• predator prey interaction model
• Conceptual model of predator-prey population dynamics.
• First thought: white hares and lynxes in a cyclic population cycle. Predator - prey dynamics.
• First thought - predator-prey dynamics
• Sketch briefly for class and explain why it rarely is of use in the real world.
• Competition, predator prey. Should really be able to explain it easily so that students can grasp it intuitivly. Phase plane. Good teaching tool for mathematical ecology. My senior thesis as an undergraduate. And of course, the mental image of several diagrams I have drawn or seen drawn.
• It's not a theory - it's a mathematical model of species interaction based upon simple assumptions (linear intra- and/or inter-specific density dependence) that can be used to examine dynamic population interactions due to competition, predation/parasitism, or mutualistic interactions.
• Simple competition and predator-prey models based on assumption of equilibrium conditions.
• O.K., seriously, 'differential equations of interacting organisms (usually competition) based on rather phenomenological parameters'
• out of date
• Lotka-Volterra theory is a theory of ecological interactions between predator and prey or two competing species based on relative simple logistic equations relating the two species through their effects on one another, and their intrinsic growth rates. The theory is useful for illustrating species interactions but rests on simplistic assumptions, equilibrium condition that are rarely met, and probably only apply in idealized conditions.
• Population cycling/dynamics
• Predator - Prey theory.
• Predator-prey dynamics.
• Population models
• I think of equations describing population change, intrinsic growth and carrying capacity.
• ecologists attempt to respond to e=mc^2
• passe, not really a theory, mechanism-vague
• Type-I functional response, predator-prey oscillations, Italian fisherman.
• Someone's thinking about either competition or predator-prey equations but are not sure which or even if those differ.
• Null-hypothesis.