Predation

Question 1

What is a predator?

Answer 1

-an organism that feeds on another organism known as prey

Question 2

What is predation?

Answer 2

• predation occurs when one organism is consumed by another
• when a population of a predator and a population of its prey are brought together in a laboratory, the prey is usually exterminated by the predator
• this is largely because the range and variety of the habitat provided is normally limited to the confines of the laboratory
• in nature however the area the population can travel is greater and the environment is more diverse so the prey may be able to escape the predators

Question 3

What is the affect of predator prey relationship on population size?

Answer 3

• predators eat pray
• this reduces the population size of the prey
• this means there is less food
• this leads to intraspecific competition for remaining food sources
• this leads to a decrease in the predator population
• this means more prey can reproduce and survive
• this means the prey population starts to increase
• this means more food is available for predators so their population in turn increases

Question 4

what impacts population size?

Answer 4

• organisms eat a rage of food in natural ecosystems so the population size will fluctuate
• selection pressures cause periodic crashes in population size
• predator prey relationship causes a cyclic fluctuation