Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have made a discovery about how starfish manage to survive predatory attacks by shedding their own limbs. The team has identified a neurohormone responsible for triggering this ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 29, 2024
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45
Scientists have identified the Australian and Antarctic marine predators most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and it will help focus conservation efforts for species under threat.
Plants & Animals
Aug 28, 2024
0
15
I get twitchy about taking holidays at the end of August, because it's the only time of year when people (and the media) in the UK seem to want to talk about wasps and I have spent my career trying to change people's minds ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 26, 2024
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23
A study led by scientists from the University of Bristol reveals what animals do after they have feigned death in order to avoid being killed by a predator and what the context of this behavior is. The work has been published ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 22, 2024
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79
North Sea oil and gas extraction can cause pollution to spike by more than 10,000% within half a kilometer around off-shore sites, a study has found.
Environment
Jul 30, 2024
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37
A team of paleontologists at the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in China reports a new species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. Their find is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
University of Melbourne and James Cook University researchers have called for an urgent rethink of the merits of coral reef restoration and adaptation, questioning whether the practice can meaningfully improve reef health.
Ecology
Jul 29, 2024
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1
The fish in Alfonso Barone's net are hauled aboard off Sicily half- eaten, ravaged by bearded fireworms, a voracious predator flourishing in the increasingly warm Mediterranean sea.
Ecology
Jul 28, 2024
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15
Some species of fish can change their egg-laying habits in response to predators in the area in order to survive, according to new research from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Evolution
Jul 19, 2024
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28
A team of Brazilian scientists has discovered a fossilized skeleton of what they believe is one of the world's oldest dinosaurs after heavy rains in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul accelerated the natural process ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 17, 2024
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160
In 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 its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption. Other categories of consumption are herbivory (eating parts of plants) and detritivory, the consumption of dead organic material (detritus). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric of consumer-resource systems. It can often be difficult to separate our various types of feeding behaviors. For example, parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live or on its decaying corpse after it has died. The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population. On the other hand, detritivores simply eat dead organic material arising from the decay of dead individuals and have no direct impact on the "donor" organism(s).
Selective pressures imposed on one another often leads to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations.
The unifying theme in all classifications of predation is the predator lowering the fitness of its prey, or put another way, it reduces its prey's chances of survival, reproduction, or both. Ways of classifying predation surveyed here include grouping by trophic level or diet, by specialization, and by the nature of the predator's interaction with prey.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
