silly question about community ecology?

[b1163]

Ok, so predators eat preys...lets say i DONT want the preys to be eaten by the predators so I kill all the predators, would the prey population increase (since no one wants to eat them) ??

[jwalin]

The population would shooot up and reach a new carrying capactiy... it would increase till a point where some other factor limits its population...

[b1163]

it makes a lot of sense thank you

[Julie5]

That 'other factor' is usually the prey's own food source - they reproduce so much (ie, in the absence of predators to eat them) that they eat up all their food supply, and then, either migrate to other sources of food, or else start to die off.

The predator-prey dynamic is one of the most common, and powerful, dynamics in biosystems.

Homo sap is currently on course to over-breed its available resources. We are increasing in numbers so much we will hit our carrying capaciy as the earth does not have infinite amount of resources. At that point the old horsemen of the apocalypse will be let loose - war and famine and disease etc, and our population will be shrunk for us.

Sadly, populations seldom act in their own interest......ie, take the sane decision to limit population growth (we should only be allowed to have two children - one to replace each parent) before the world becomes an even worse place for most of us to live in. Over population is insanity.

(Of course, we could simply be being bred by an alien species who will arrive and eat us at some point - those daft SETI folk are busy telling them where we are.....!)

[jwalin]

hmm yes watever but coming back to the main question yes so the population will reach a new carrying capacity as long as the food lasts and then it will reach another new carrying capacity if its own food deplenishes

[Julie5]

Coming from India as you do, I wouldn't be so dismissive of over-population as you seem to be! It's India's main ecnomic problem....

[jwalin]

LOL
Hmm India has many other issues that I would like it to work on (that I am working on) but thats beside the point.
Hmm in humans the food source is lasting and hence is the race but once the food depletes there will be problems there were people who had predicted by when would the food source deplete (though they were proved wrong due technological advancements)
Food is one limiting factor
Other usual factor is toxins... Hm i dont need to expand on that..