AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Canada lynxes eat mostly snowshoe hares-which in turn are preyed on almost exclusively by Canada lynxes. This unusually tight predator-prey relationship means that when hare numbers change, so do lynx numbers (and vice versa), sometimes drastically.

Detailed explanation-2: -The lynx and hare populations have a predator-prey relationship. Disease, food supply and other predators are variables in this complex relationship. The flux in this cyclic relationship is what allows for the ecosystem dynamic to work.

Detailed explanation-3: -Snowshoe hares live throughout the boreal, or northern, forest. As an important prey species for a wide variety of predators, the population size and reproductive success of many predators cycles with the abundance of hare.

Detailed explanation-4: -As the number of lynx increases, a larger number of snowshoe hares are eaten-resulting in a hare population decrease. As the population of hares decreases, the lynx population begins to decline as well. The predator–prey relationship is an example of a density-dependent limiting factor.

Detailed explanation-5: -In the predator prey relationship, one species is feeding on the other species. The prey species is the animal being fed on, and the predator is the animal being fed. The predator prey relationship develops over time as many generations of each species interact.