Predation
hideIn ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey, (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey. The other main category of consumption is detritivory, the consumption of dead organic material (detritus). It can at times be difficult to separate the two feeding behaviors, for example where parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on its decaying corpse. The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population. On the other hand, detritivores simply eat what is available and have no direct impact on the "donor" organism(s).
Selective pressures imposed on one another has led to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations.
For more information about Predation, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with predators
Facebook creates online safety board
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Social networking site Facebook on Monday said it is creating a global safety advisory board to protect its users against online predators such as sex offenders.
Facebook, MySpace ban New York sex offenders
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Facebook and MySpace have closed the accounts of 3,533 convicted sex offenders in New York state under a law combating online predators, officials said Tuesday.
Search results for predators
Poisonous prehistoric 'raptor' discovered in China
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
12 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A group of University of Kansas researchers working with Chinese colleagues have discovered a venomous, birdlike raptor that thrived some 128 million years ago in China. This is the first ...
Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man's best friend
23 hours ago |
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Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.
Researcher explains mystery of golden ratio
Dec 21, 2009 |
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The Egyptians supposedly used it to guide the construction the Pyramids. The architecture of ancient Athens is thought to have been based on it. Fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon tried to unravel ...
Loud and lazy but didn't chew gum: Ancient koalas
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Skull fragments of prehistoric koalas from the Riversleigh rainforests of millions of year ago suggest they shared the modern koala's "lazy" lifestyle and ability to produce loud "bellowing" ...
Headwater stream nutrient enrichment disrupts food web
Dec 17, 2009 |
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Human activity is increasing the supply of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to stream systems all over the world. The conventional wisdom -- bolstered by earlier research -- has held that these additional nutrients ...
Zoning the ocean may help endangered whales to recover
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Scientists in Scotland, Canada and the US have proposed a new method to identify priority areas for whale conservation. The team's findings, published in Animal Conservation, suggest that even small protected areas, identi ...
Syntax in our primate cousins
Dec 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study carried out in Ivory Coast has shown that monkeys of a certain forest-dwelling species called Campbell's monkeys emit six types of alert calls. The primates combine these calls into ...
Dinosaurs hop, skip and jump into 21st century
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Dinosaurs have literally been put through their paces by a new supercomputer, allowing scientists to get closer to understanding how they once moved.
Female birds -- acting just like the guys -- become sexual show-offs in cooperative breeding species
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Female birds in species that breed in groups can find themselves under pressure to sexually show off and evolve the same kinds of embellishments - like fanciful tail feathers or chest-puffing ...
Birds Call to Warn Friends and Enemies
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Birds' alarm calls serve both to alert other birds to danger and to warn off predators. And some birds can pull a ventriloquist's trick, singing from the side of their mouths, according to a UC Davis study.
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