How Do Predator-Prey Relationships Cause Two Species To Die Out?

Predator-prey size relationships focus on how both the predator and prey survive or die out due to the population size difference. There are two kinds of relationships. The first one being the stable predator-prey relationships. These are the ones where both the prey and predator numbers fluctuate in order to live in harmony. This fluctuation, the cycle of ups and downs between the two species, will continue without one going extinct. An unstable prey-predator relationship is one in which one species goes extinct. When one species goes extinct it can also cause the other to die out as well. The guiding question is “which factors affect the stability of a predator-prey size relationship?” The goal is to answer the guiding question that will help explain why relationships may become unstable, causing one species to go extinct. The steps that were …show more content…
This graph can be seen to the left. When observing the graph it can be seen that by changing the grass’ regrowth time the sheep and wolves numbers could not support each other. When the grass did not replenish as fast this caused the sheep’s number to die down while the wolves went completely extinct. The evidence supports the claim by showing how the grass can affect the entire ecosystem, killing one of the species. Several of the other groups agreed with the hypothesis, claim, and experimental analysis. Only about two other groups said that increasing the grass regrowth time would kill off the sheep because they would have no food. While the sheep may have declined in numbers they would not be the first to die out since there should be fewer wolves than sheep. In reviewing the data collected by the other groups, the evidence supports the initial claims and answers the guiding