Which is(are) an adaptation against predation

Seed consumption can sometimes constitute predation. Seeds are considered organisms. Under ideal circumstances, seeds grow to become plants. However, consumption of a seed kills the plant before it can grow, making seed consumption an example of predation. Not all predators are animals. Carnivorous plants, such as the Venus fly trap and the pitcher plant, consume insects.

Pitcher plants catch their prey in a pool of water containing digestive enzymes, whereas the Venus fly trap captures an insect between the two lobes of a leaf and seals the insect inside with digestive enzymes. These plants absorb nutrients from the insects as they become available during digestion.

On a microscopic scale, protozoa and bacteria also consume prey organisms. They play an important role in maintaining population sizes in microbial communities, which promotes the diversity of microorganisms and contributes to a stable community structure. Predation and Adaptation. Figure 1: Adaptations to predation. A Cheetahs can sustain bursts of speed while chasing prey. Figure 2: Aposematic coloration. Brightly colored animals, such as the red-spotted newt a and monarch butterfly b , warn potential predators against consumption.

Figure 3: Batesian mimicry. Non-toxic Papilio dardanus swallowtail butterfly females occur in a variety of forms, each of which mimics the physical appearance of toxic species. Herbivory is the consumption of plant material by animals, and herbivores are animals adapted to eat plants. As in predator-prey interactions, this interaction drives adaptations in both the herbivore and the plant species it eats.

For example, to reduce the damage done by herbivores, plants have evolved defenses, including thorns and chemicals. To maximize nutrient intake, many herbivores have evolved adaptations that allow them to determine which plants contain fewer defensive compounds and more high-quality nutrients.

Some insects, such as butterflies, have chemical sensors on their feet that allow them to taste the plant before they consume any part of it. Mammalian herbivores often use their keen sense of smell to detect bitter compounds, and they preferentially eat younger leaves that contain fewer chemicals. Figure 4: Parasitoidism. A parastic wasp stings its prey before laying eggs on or in it a. Parasite Transmission. Figure 5: Complex life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite.

The life cycle requires both the primary human host and the intermediate Anopheles mosquito host for completion. Antagonistic interactions include predation, herbivory, and parasitism. These interactions are complex, with predators consuming herbivores, plants and animals infected by parasites, and occasional disease outbreaks.

Herbivorous, predatory, and parasitic interactions among organisms within communities regulate population sizes by preventing any one population from becoming overly abundant. Each type of interaction becomes more likely as the population size of the food source increases. Thus these interactions are essential to maintaining the diversity of organisms that make up an ecological community.

Each of these interactions can alter the balance of the food web, and removal of any part of the web can have a drastic impact on the community. References and Recommended Reading Coley, P.

Salvato, M. Most Spectacular Batesian Mimicry. Article History Close. Share Cancel. Revoke Cancel. Keywords Keywords for this Article. Save Cancel. Flag Inappropriate The Content is: Objectionable. Flag Content Cancel. Email your Friend. Submit Cancel. This content is currently under construction. Explore This Subject.

Topic rooms within Community Ecology Close. No topic rooms are there. Or Browse Visually. Other Topic Rooms Ecology. Student Voices. Creature Cast. Simply Science. Green Screen. Green Science. Bio 2. The Success Code.

Why Science Matters. The Beyond. Plant ChemCast. Postcards from the Universe. Brain Metrics. Mind Read. The models are based on the assumption that increased investment in predation-related adaptations must be paid for by decreased adaptation to some other factor.

Increased investment in predation-related adaptations by the prey lowers the predator's functional response, and increased investment by the predator increases the functional response.

The models are used to determine how each species should respond to an increase in the predation-related investment of the other species. Several broad classes of population-dynamics models and several alternatives for the cost of predation-related adaptation are investigated.

The results do not support the general applicability of the race analogy. These chemicals are synthesized and stored predominately within special glands, and they are not allowed to damage the host organism. When danger threatens, however, these poisons can be forcefully ejected as a sting or a bite, as a spray, or occasionally as an ooze.

Their effect is to harm the predator immediately or to act as a distasteful poison in the predator's digestive system if the host is eaten. Either way, the predator learns to avoid contact with other similar potential victims in the future, and the presence of the gene s coding for the sting or poison has thus increased the owner's fitness. Warning Signals. Smelly, stinging, or bad tasting organisms usually have some means of warning potential predators to leave them alone.

Often these adaptations, known as aposematic appearance , take the form of bold color patterns that stand out dramatically against the background. In South America, for example, lives a bright red-orange frog with large black eyes and dark green-black legs.

It is a very obvious animal, yet predators have learned to avoid it carefully because they also know it contains a highly poisonous material. Possessing genes for highly colored skin increased the frog's chances of survival and enhances its fitness by warding off danger.