Question

Species of oak trees periodically have years of large acorn production, followed by years of lower acorn amounts. in years of plenty, squirrel populations will experience an increase due to increased food availability of acorns. then, squirrel populations will decrease after lower acorn abundance. this is an example of species of oak trees periodically have years of large acorn production, followed by years of lower acorn amounts. in years of plenty, squirrel populations will experience an increase due to increased food availability of acorns. then, squirrel populations will decrease after lower acorn abundance. this is an example of

Answer 1

This is an example of "Population Cycle"

In a population cycle, there is drop and rise in the population of species with time. Also this process of population drop and rise is repetitive in nature. Here in this case the series of events taking place are as follows:

a) Oak trees have large acorn production

b) With rise of acorn production, squirrel population increases owing to availability of food

c) Oak trees have lower acorn production

d) With decrease in acorn production, squirrel population decreases owing to reduction in food availability

If we plot the population cycle of two species i.e oak tree and squirrel on a graph, it results into two parallel sinusoidal graphs. The population of one species changes with the change in population of other species