Require The Same Limiting Resource, What Would You Predict About Their Ability To Coexist?

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Lotka-Volterra is a simply model that represents how the population’s density of predator and prey cycles. When the population size of predators decreases, the prey population increases because there is less risk of predation. However, this increase in prey population means that there is more food available for predators, and therefore the predator population will increase. Consequently, this growth in predator population will obviously causes a decrease in prey population because there is a high predation risk. This important cycle will go down and up through time, where the abundance of one population depends on the other.

2) How do search image formation and prey switching behavior lead to a type III functional response in predators? (Ch. 14) In predators, type III functional response is due to the little consumption of prey at a low density caused by prey switching behavior and search image formation. This happens because when an increase in the …show more content…

(Ch. 16) When the same limited resource is required by two species, they cannot coexist for a long period of time. Usually, the weakest species will die with time and the strongest one will persist. This happens because when the resource is scarce, there is always one species that can obtain the resource easiest and hence persist.

4) Explain why ecologists predict that closely related species will often experience more intense competition than distantly related species? (Ch. 16) Closely related species usually have a higher competition because they have similar traits, exist in the same ecological niche, and need to consume similar resources to survive. On the other hand, distantly related species have lower competition because they do not have exactly the same traits and do not need the same resources to persist. To conclude, interspecific competition is less intense than intraspecific

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