![]() The Illinois state government allows human hunting of deer to help limit the population size and prevent death by starvation. The growing human population has made this problem worse by decreasing the amount of natural habitat for the deer. Without these predators, the white tailed deer population has grown so large that there is not enough food for all the deer. In Illinois, all the top predators, such as the grey wolf, cougar, and American black bear, are extinct. Prey animals need predators to help keep their populations healthy too. The graph below shows that snowy owls on one island in Canada only nested in years with large numbers of lemmings. Snowy owls will only reproduce if lemming populations are large enough for the owls to have enough food to feed both themselves and their chicks. The changes in the lemming population affect the predators that rely on them for food. This cycle repeats every three to four years. Without the moss, the lemmings starve and the population crashes. When lemming populations become too large, they consume all of the moss that is their food. Lemming populations go through cycles of growth and decline. Changes in one population will result in changes in the other.Ī well-studied predator-prey relationship is that of the snowy owl and the lemmings, a type of rodent, that are their prey. The relationships between predator and prey animals make up the delicate balance that is part of an ecosystem. Predator species that are not prey for any other animals are known as the top predator. Many predators may even be prey for larger predators. Prey animals are species that are food for other animals known as predators. They are an important factor in the ecology of populations, determining mortality of prey. These linkages are the prime movers of energy through food chains. This includes predator-prey, herbivore-plant, and parasite-host interactions. Many species have niches where they serve as food for other species. Predation is used here to include all '+/-' interactions in which one organism consumes all or part of another. Different species have different roles or niches in the ecosystem so that they do not compete for the same resources.
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