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.
Cornell releases predator beetle to battle hemlock pest
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers released a well-studied beetle predator to test its ability to ward off a hemlock-killing aphid-like insect.
Single gene lets bacteria jump from host to host
Biology /
Feb 01, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- All life -- plants, animals, people -- depends on peaceful coexistence with a swarm of microbial life that performs vital services from helping to convert food to energy to protection from ...
As super-predators, humans reshape their prey at super-natural speeds
Biology /
Jan 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Fishing and hunting are having broad, swift impacts on the body size and reproductive abilities of fish and other commercially harvested species, potentially jeopardizing the ability of entire ...
How does this grab you? Study identifies first ancestor with a 'grasping hand'
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 29, 2009 |
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In the Late Paleozoic (260 million years ago), long before dinosaurs dominated the Earth, ancient precursors to mammals took to the trees to feed on leaves and live high above predators that prowled the land, ...
Wolf reintroduction proposed in Scottish Highland test case
Jul 20, 2009 |
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Researchers are proposing in a new report that a major experiment be conducted to reintroduce wolves to a test site in the Scottish Highlands, to help control the populations and behavior of red deer that ...
Common fish species has 'human' ability to learn
Jun 17, 2009 |
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Although worlds apart, the way fish learn could be closer to humans' way of thinking than previously believed, suggests a new research study.
When evolution is not so slow and gradual
Jun 02, 2009 |
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What's the secret to surviving during times of environmental change? Evolve…quickly.
Neandertals sophisticated and fearless hunters
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 14, 2009 |
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Neandertals, the 'stupid' cousins of modern humans were capable of capturing the most impressive animals. This indicates that Neandertals were anything but dim. Dutch researcher Gerrit Dusseldorp analysed their daily forays ...
A venomous tale: Vipers shape lizards' tail-shedding abilities
Mar 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues have answered a question that has puzzled biologists for more than a century: What is the main factor that determines a lizard's ability ...
Not 1, but 2 kinds of males found in the invasive round goby
Jun 15, 2009 |
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Scientists have found the existence of two types of males of a fiercely invasive fish spreading through the Great Lakes, which may provide answers as to how they rapidly reproduce.
Researchers break the animal kingdom's colour code
Apr 16, 2009 |
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Charles Darwin was fascinated by the colours of animals - he once wrote to his colleague Alfred Russell Wallace asking why certain animals were "so
beautifully and artistically coloured".
Crayfish win by cheating
Mar 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study conducted at UQ's Moreton Bay Research Station has found, when it comes to crayfish, size really does matter.
Predators ignore peculiar prey
May 12, 2009 |
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Rare traits persist in a population because predators detect common forms of prey more easily. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Ecology found that birds will target salamanders that look l ...
