Removing the predator from the environment, often results in a rapid decrease in biodiversity as one species takes over the environment, eliminating its competitors by using up all the resources.

A keystone predator is one whose presence allows multiple species that compete with one another for resources to exist in an environment. It does this because it keeps the populations of the different competitors in check through predation. Many predators dine on multiple types of prey. These factors, such as spatial heterogeneity and prey defense mechanisms, act to stabilize the relationship, preventing the predatory or prey species from disrupting the cycle.įor example, when the prey becomes sparse, their density within a predator’s territory also becomes much less, making it harder to find prey and allowing some of the prey to survive without being completely eliminated by the predator. It is important to remember that there are other factors at work too though. One of the best known examples of this cycle occurs with snowshoe hares and Canada lynx. That results in a decrease in the number of predators as the food resource becomes smaller which in turn decreases the rate of predation, allowing the prey species population to flourish again. When the prey species is numerous, the number of predators will increase because there is more food to feed them and a higher population can be supported with available resources.Īs the number of predators begins to increase, the density of the prey population will decrease in response to increased rates of predation. It is logical to expect the two populations to fluctuate in response to the density of one another.

Predator mentality vs prey mentality