Explain how predator and prey populations control each other. Your explanation s

Question

Explain how predator and prey populations control each other. Your explanation should include discussion of things like population cycles and carrying capacities. What significant differences in relative population sizes would you expect between an ecosystem where the major predator was cold blooded, and an ecosystem where the major predator was warm blooded? For the sake of the exercise, assume that these two predators are about the same size and weight, and that both are exclusively carnivorous.

Explanation / Answer

Since predators are dependent upon their prey for food their population growth is directly related to the population of prey present in an ecosystem. As the population of prey increases, the predators have more food to eat and raise their offspring. It leads to an increase in the population of the predators as well. However, as the population of the predator increases due to larger prey population the consumption of the prey increases, which leads to a decline in their population. This, in turn, leads to a shortage of the food for the predators and they begin to decline as well. This rise and fall in the population of the predators and the prey due to the interdependence of their populations on each other are also known as population cycle. Another factor that determines the population of these species is the carrying capacities of their ecosystem. An ecosystem can withhold a certain maximum population of a species, after which it stars declining due to various factors such as competition, disease, availability of food and other necessary conditions required for survival. Although the population dynamics of predators and prey are dependent on each other they never cross a certain threshold level due to the mentioned limiting factors.

Warm-blooded predators are confined in a limited area due to variation in terrain and temperature. They have access to a limited number and variety of prey which limits the maximum population that they can reach. Cold blooded predators on the other have a complex food web network that provides them with a lot more alternative sources of prey. The population of cold-blooded predators are likely to be higher if both operate in an equal area of ecosystems.

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