Feeding Relationships

• A predator species is an animal that catches and eats other animals
• A prey species is an organism that is caught and eaten by another organism
• In a predator-prey graph, an increase in the prey population provides more food for the predator, allowing more predators to survive and resulting in an increase in the predator population
• The larger predator population eats more prey organisms, causing a decrease in the prey population
• The reduced prey population can no longer support the large predator population, resulting in a decrease in the size of the predator population
• In a predator-prey graph, the line representing the predator population is usually above the line representing the prey population
• After point B on a predator-prey graph, the increasing population is marked by more predators due to the abundance of prey, leading to a cycle of predator and prey population changes
• Food Chain terms:

  • Producer: Usually a plant or green algae that produces its own food by photosynthesis
  • Consumer: An organism that has to eat other organisms to survive
  • Predator: An animal that catches and eats other animals
  • Prey: An organism that is caught and eaten by another organism