Predation Flashcards
What is predation?
The consumption of one organism by another for nutrition.
Includes carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.
What is Gause’s principle?
If both competitors are limited by the same resource, they cannot coexist indefinitely.
What are true predators?
Organisms that consume prey immediately after killing them.
Examples include ladybird beetles eating aphids and deer mice eating seeds.
What defines grazers in the context of predation?
They attack many prey but only remove part of each individual, seldom lethal.
Examples include sheep and deer flies.
What are parasites?
Organisms that attack few prey, form intimate associations, remove part of each, and are harmful but not immediately lethal.
Examples include tapeworms and aphids.
What are parasitoids?
Larval parasitoids that develop in a host, leading to eventual lethality.
Example includes parasitic wasps on Lepidopteran larvae.
What is the difference between monophagous and polyphagous organisms?
Monophagous organisms specialize in one food source, while polyphagous organisms consume various food sources.
What does the optimal foraging theory predict?
Animal behavior while foraging, focusing on energy efficiency in food search.
What are the two major optimal foraging strategies?
- Specialist: Purses profitable prey items, spending much time searching.
- Generalist: Pursues both profitable and non-profitable items, spending little time searching.
What is a key assumption of the optimal foraging theory?
Foraging behavior has been favored by natural selection due to high genetic fitness from high net energy intake.
What are the three major functional responses to prey density?
- Type I: Linear increase in prey capture until satiety.
- Type II: Decelerating increase in per capita predation due to handling time.
- Type III: Sigmoidal shape with low capture rates at low prey abundances.
What is the numerical response in predation?
The fecundity of predators at different prey densities.
What can happen if carnivores and herbivores are too successful?
They can instigate their own demise through population dynamics.
What was the outcome of Huffaker’s mite experiment?
Initial predator consumption of prey led to stability when environmental complexity was introduced.
What does the Red Queen hypothesis suggest?
Natural selection favors prey that become increasingly clever to escape predation.
What is a common misconception about carnivores and prey populations?
That carnivores always have detrimental effects on prey populations.
Fill in the blank: The human case of hunting often leads to the _______ of prey populations.
detriment
What is the significance of the Pueo Owl in the context of predation?
It raises questions about the impact of invasive species introduced by humans.
