Predation (nonfiction): Difference between revisions

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[[File:Quail_Hunting_with_Dogs.jpg|thumb|Quail hunting with dogs.]]In an ecosystem, '''predation''' is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked).
[[File:Quail_Hunting_with_Dogs.jpg|thumb|Quail hunting with dogs.]]In an ecosystem, '''predation''' is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked).
== Description ==


Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption.
Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption.
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Other categories of consumption are herbivory (eating parts of plants), fungivory (eating parts of fungi), and detritivory (the consumption of dead organic material (detritus)). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric of consumer-resource systems.
Other categories of consumption are herbivory (eating parts of plants), fungivory (eating parts of fungi), 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 various types of feeding behaviors.
== In the News ==


For example, some 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 in 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.
<gallery mode="traditional">
File:Gnotilus-fighting-Heracles.jpg|link=Gnotilus|[[Hydria (nonfiction)|Black-figure hydria]] allows [[Gnotilus]] to predate upon tastefully combative humans.</gallery>


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).
== Fiction cross-reference ==


Selective pressures imposed on one another often leads to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations. 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.
* [[Catch phrase]] - a predatory form of [[Artificial intelligence (nonfiction)|artificial intelligence]].


== Nonfiction cross-reference ==
== Nonfiction cross-reference ==


== Fiction cross-reference ==
* [[Hydria (nonfiction)]]
 
* [[War (nonfiction)]]
<gallery mode="traditional">
* [[Weapon (nonfiction)]]
File:Gnotilus-fighting-Heracles.jpg|link=Gnotilus|Black-figure [[hydria]] showing [[Gnotilus]] predating upon humans.</gallery>


== External links ==
External links:


* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predation Predation] @ Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predation Predation] @ Wikipedia

Latest revision as of 09:51, 22 June 2016

Quail hunting with dogs.

In an ecosystem, predation is 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 often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption.

Thus predation is often, though not always, carnivory.

Other categories of consumption are herbivory (eating parts of plants), fungivory (eating parts of fungi), and detritivory (the consumption of dead organic material (detritus)). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric of consumer-resource systems.

In the News

Fiction cross-reference

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links: