Question

Up until now, no characteristics or qualities have been assigned to the predators and prey. Suggest a trait of the prey and a trait of the predators that might account for the results of your model. How do the results of your model help explain the process of natural selection in a predator-prey relationship?

Answer 1

A predator is an organism that eats another organism. The prey is the organism which the predator eats. Some examples of predator and prey are lion and zebra, bear and fish, and fox and rabbit.

Answer 2

Predator foraging traits include;

• body size (mass or length),
• gape size,
• hunting or foraging mode (for example, ambush or active hunting), and
• feeding mode (for example, chewing or suctorial) .

Prey vulnerability traits include;

• body size (length and mass),
• body shape,
• defense (for example, physical or chemical protection),
• ability to avoid detection (crypsis or camouflage),
• mobility,
• ability to recognize and detect predators, and
• evasive or escape behavior (which can be elicited by physiological trait responses.

But whether or not predators engage with prey, or prey respond to predators in the first place, depends fundamentally on their relative body sizes (or predator gape and prey body shape). Pursuing prey that are too large or cumbersome can be harmful or energetically costly to predators, and pursuing prey that are too small may not be worth the energetic return.

As these populations continue to reproduce over time, the actions of natural selection can also change the species to make them better predators, or more defensive prey. Either way, this adaptation changes the entire predator prey dynamic. If one species cannot then adapt an appropriate defense, they may go extinct.

Step-by-step explanation:

Hope it helps.