Interdependence Flashcards

All 4 cards in this deck

What is interdependence in a community?

Species depend on each other for things such as food, shelter, pollination and seed dispersal, so a change in one population affects others.

Hedgehogs eat slugs and earthworms. If slug pellets kill the slugs, what happens to the earthworm population and why?

It decreases, because more earthworms will be eaten by hedgehogs (hedgehogs have only one food source left).

Slugs and caterpillars both eat lettuce. Why does the number of caterpillars increase when slug numbers fall?

There is more food (lettuce) for the caterpillars to eat because fewer slugs are eating it.

True or false? If the number of prey falls, the predator population will usually fall too.

True. There is less food for the predators, so fewer survive.