EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -As predator populations increase, they put greater strain on the prey populations and act as a top-down control, pushing them toward a state of decline. Thus both availability of resources and predation pressure affect the size of prey populations.

Detailed explanation-2: -Generally the answer is that without predators to suppress their number, prey outstrip available food resources, nesting sites, or some other limited resource and thus begin to suppress their further growth through competition. Watch these short video lectures for a very nice overview of predator-prey interactions.

Detailed explanation-3: -Too many predators and not enough prey leads to predators starving and dying because they can’t find enough food. Too many prey and not enough predators leads to the spread of disease and depletion of resources for the prey species and others that live in their habitat.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.

Detailed explanation-5: -Predators are fewer in number than prey because they are higher up the food chain. In a food chain, an organism passes on only part of the energy it receives from food. With less energy, each level in a food chain supports fewer individuals than the one below it.