Predator-Prey Interactions Flashcards
What are grazers?
Feed on nutrient-rich, low-growing, non-woody plants
What are browsers?
Feed on nutrient-poor, high-growing biomass
What are exclosure experiments?
A tool to study the effects of herbivory/predation on a species or community
What are prey populations influenced by?
Food availability
Consumptive effects of predators
non-consumptive effects of predators
What are the consumptive effects of predation?
Direct effects of predators on prey populations through the capture and consumption of living prey
What are the non-consumptive effects of predation?
Changes to prey that are due to predators being present, including shifts in morphological traits, stress-physiology, and altered behaviour
What are some examples of the non-consumptive effects of predation?
Prey might have higher cortisol levels when predators are present
They may have lower reproductive rates
What is the role of food supply on prey?
If there is a lot of food, prey can grow at exponential rates
Food shortages can also happen in addiction to induced food plant defenses
What is the role of predation on prey?
Prey may have lots of predators
There is evidence of functional and numerical responses of predators to prey populations
What is functional response?
Increase/decrease in the feeding rate
What is numerical response?
Change in density of predator populations in response to changes in prey density
What are the complementary hypotheses?
Both food availability and predation play a role in prey population density
What is capture efficiency (b)?
The proportion of encounters between predators and prey that results in the predator capturing/eating the prey
The success rate of the predator
What is conversion factor (c)?
How many prey are required to produce one predator
How many prey individuals a female needs to consume to make one offspring
What is the isocline of prey?
Number of predator associated with stable prey population
