Competition/Predation

Predation is when one organism eats another. For example, hawks kill and eat other animals like mice. Hawks are predators and mice are prey. Predation is an important relationship because it provides the predator with the energy it needs to carry out life functions. Predation also controls the size of predator and prey populations. If the predators over-hunt their prey, the population of prey will decrease. Eventually, as the predators run out of food, the predator population will also decrease. With fewer predators, the number of prey will be able to increase. For these reasons, we often see a cycle of population increases and decreases over time.