Levels of Organisation
Levels of Organisation
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Food Chains describe the feeding relationships between species within an ecosystem, starting with producers and moving up to primary, secondary, and sometimes tertiary consumers.
PREDATORS are consumers that kill and eat OTHER ANIMALS and PREY are the animals that GET EATEN.
The numbers of predators and their prey in an STABLE ecosystem tend to fluctuate in cyclical patterns, known as PREDATOR-PREY CYCLES.
1. An INCREASE in PREY population typically leads to an INCREASE in PREDATORS since MORE FOOD is available.
2. As the PREDATOR population INCREASES, the PREY population begins to DECLINE as the prey get hunted and killed MORE.
3. This is followed by a DECREASE in PREDATORS, as they now have LESS FOOD to eat.
4. Fewer predators results in the population of PREY INCREASING once again and the whole cycle repeats again.
This cycle demonstrates that predators and prey are INTERDEPENDENT and the importance of each species in maintaining ecological stability.
Disruptions to this cycle can be bad for the ecosystem:
Food Chains describe the feeding relationships between species within an ecosystem, starting with producers and moving up to primary, secondary, and sometimes tertiary consumers.
PREDATORS are consumers that kill and eat OTHER ANIMALS and PREY are the animals that GET EATEN.
The numbers of predators and their prey in an STABLE ecosystem tend to fluctuate in cyclical patterns, known as PREDATOR-PREY CYCLES.
1. An INCREASE in PREY population typically leads to an INCREASE in PREDATORS since MORE FOOD is available.
2. As the PREDATOR population INCREASES, the PREY population begins to DECLINE as the prey get hunted and killed MORE.
3. This is followed by a DECREASE in PREDATORS, as they now have LESS FOOD to eat.
4. Fewer predators results in the population of PREY INCREASING once again and the whole cycle repeats again.
This cycle demonstrates that predators and prey are INTERDEPENDENT and the importance of each species in maintaining ecological stability.
Disruptions to this cycle can be bad for the ecosystem:
