BIOL 180 Chapter Notes - Chapter 55: Commensalism, Herbivore, Natural Selection
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BIOL 180 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Interaction that occurs when one organism eats another. Consumption is costly for prey and beneficial for consumers: prey do not passively give up lives to increase fitness of predators though. Natural selection strongly favors traits that allow individuals to avoid being eaten. Batesian mimicry - form of mimicry where mimic species that resemble unpalatable species: look dangerous, but aren"t. Mullerian mimicry - existence of similar-looking unpalatable prey in the same habitat increases likelihood that predators will learn to avoid them: look dangerous, actually are, co-mimicry boosts fitness of both species. Induced defenses decline in prey species if predators leave habitat. Inducible defenses are efficient energetically, but they are slow-takes time to produce them. Prey typically smaller than predators, have larger litter or clutch sizes, and tend to begin reproducing at a younger age: therefore they have a much larger intrinsic growth rate.
