Name: Destiny Cornett

Ecology Lab - Predator Prey Interactions *home edition

In any ecosystem, there are interactions between predators and prey, and herbivores,
carnivores, and omnivores. The population numbers of each group depends on those
interactions. Too many predators might cause the loss of a prey species. Not enough
prey, could eliminate the predators because they won’t have enough to eat. This
simulation will explore interactions of organisms that live in a forest ecosystem.

Process

1. Open the simulator: https://www.learner.org/wp-content/interactive/envsci/ecology/ecology.html

*You may want to split your screen so you can look at this document while running the simulation.

2. The simulation will start with two plants highlighted. What do you think will happen to these plants in this

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ecosystem? Can they both survive together? Why or Why not.

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No, both plants seem like plants that grow low on the ground. If it was A and C together, I think they could

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survive. However, two plants that both growing low on the ground seem unlikely to survive together.
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3. Run the simulation until it stops at Day 100. . Observe the population in the graph.
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4. Describe what happened to Plant A and to Plant B:

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By Day 14, there were 0 plant Bs left. While Plant A continued to produce more and more plants. I
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5. The competitive exclusion principle states that two species in the same environment will compete for
resources. In those cases, one species will be the winner and one will be the loser. Consider the two plants.
What resources are they competing for, and why would one of them be the winner? Your answer requires you
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to make some assumptions about how these plants live.

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I believe the plant B was a more tropical plant and maybe needed more water than plant A. Causing Plant A
to survive and be more adapted to the environment. They both are low plants and are competing for sunlight
from each other. However, plant A didn’t need as much water as B and survived longer.
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What happens when a herbivore is added?

6. RESET the simulation. Choose the rabbit and then determine what happens when it eats plant A and then
plant B and when it eats both types of plants. Enter the final totals in the data table by estimating from the

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 graph. Run the simulation until it reaches 100 days. Reset between each test. Note: You can roll your mouse
over the line on the graph to get the population number.

Plant A final population Plant B final population Rabbit final population

Rabbit (eats only plant A) 3334 4999 2054

Rabbit (eats only plant B) 10000 0 0

Rabbit (eats both Plant A & B) 0 3333 6667

7. In which scenario is the ecosystem the most stable? Suggest a reason for this and use the word
COMPETITION in this explanation.

Rabbit eats only plant A. This provided a more fair fight for Plant B, as the herbivore helped killed some of
the competition.

8. Most herbivores are GENERALISTS, and will eat almost any plant available to them as food. It is

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unrealistic to have a herbivore that only eats plant A. Though some animals are SPECIALISTS and only eat

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one type of food. - Reset the simulation and activate all 3 herbivores and set them to eat both plant A and

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plant B.

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What happened to plants A and B when all three herbivores were present and ate both types of plants?
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Plant A died out, Plant B ended with 3333 survivors.
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9. This scenario is different from when there was just a rabbit present. Some generalists also have a
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preference for certain food types. Suggest a reason for the outcome when all three herbivores were present.

There was a bigger preference for Plant A than B. Causing the plant to die out from the bigger consumption
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from many predators.

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10. Add a squirrel to the ecosystem that also eats both plant A and Plant B. Describe what happens to the
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squirrel in this setting.

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The squirrel died out in 60 days. I believe this happens because the squirrel’s
population mostly preferred plant A, when the plant died they didn’t want to eat the plant they didn’t prefer
causing the squirrels to die out.
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11. Why do you think this outcome occurs in this setting? (Why did the squirrel do so poorly?)

The squirrels could be specialist and only eat one type of food. While the competition ate out a lot of their
resources to survive.

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 12. Squirrels are omnivores. Rest the simulation and change the squirrels’ food source to include snails and a
tree (plant C).

What happens to the squirrels now? 19103 on day 100.

What happens to the herbivores? All of them died out.

13. Suggest a reason that added a food source that only the squirrels ate impacted the ecosystem so much:

The one resource, the trees, had less competition than the other plants. Allowing a greater population in the
beginning for plant C. This jump allowed the squirrels to populate and still have resources, causing an
increase in the squirrel population. With a great squirrel population, the competition for the other herbivores
was tough and leaving them with fewer resources than the squirrels had. Causing them to die out while the
squirrels thrive.

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14. CHALLENGE: How can you get the herbivores and plants and the squirrel to coexist in this ecosystem?

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You will need to adjust what each one eats until you can create a graph where they all survive.

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Rabbit Snail Deer Squirrel
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What each eats: Plant A Plant B + C Plant A Plant C + Snail
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15. Describe the populations of each of the organisms in this food web. *Answers may vary on this one?>
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Which plant has the largest population size? Plant B, 3396

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Which type of animal has the smallest population The omnivores with 6
size (herbivores or omnivores)?
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16. Another aspect of the competitive exclusion principle is that animals that compete within the same
environment may eventually come to occupy their own NICHE. A niche is a way of life, and includes how the
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animal lives, what it eats, reproduction strategies and more. For example, a hawk and owl both eat the same
kinds of food, but the owl hunts at night and the hawk during the day.
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How did your final ecosystem (The Challenge from #14) illustrate this aspect of the competitive exclusion
principle?

Maybe the deer ate plant A during the day and the rabbits ate it at night. The squirrels would eat snails
whenever but plant C during the day and snails would eat plant C at night. Making a balance for everyone to
have time to consume without competition.

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 Part 2: Explore Predator and Prey Interactions

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Predators and prey populations often cycle. For example, if there are more rabbits in an ecosystem, there can

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be more wolves. As the wolves increase in number, the number of rabbits will begin to decline. This is called a

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PREDATOR PREY CYCLE.

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Process: Click the green button that says “presets” to clear your other data and start fresh.
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In this simulation, we are going to simplify things. You will have a rabbit, plant A, and a wolf.
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- Set the simulation to run with these plant A, a rabbit, and a wolf.
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- This time, use the “STEP” button to run the simulation to year 30.
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17. Complete the table below. ( - Scroll over the lines to determine the population size at each time period.)
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Day 0 Day 5 Day 10 Day 15 Day 20 Day 25 Day 30

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Plant A 5000 3824 2821 4010 3850 3634 4148

Rabbit 1000 3114 2047 1705 2306 1977 1847

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Wolf 10 13 30 31 41 60 70
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18. What happened to the plant population between day2 and day 10? Explain why this occurred.
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The rabbit population was close to the plant population, causing the plant to have a drop due to consumption
from the rabbits.

19. What happened to the rabbit population between day 5 and day 10? Explain why this occurred.

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 Their plant resource was low, causing a the competition for food to be higher. Effecting the rabbit population.

20. What happened to the plant population between day 10 and day 20? Explain why this occurred.

It began to grow again, as it’s predators had a low population to allow regrowth for the plant.

21. At 30 days, compare the wolf population to the rabbit population:

As the wolf population increases, the rabbit population gradually decreases. But staying around the same
population size.

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20 Click the run button to take the simulation to day 200. What ultimately happens to all three populations?

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The populations continue to survive. The graph become stagnant as the populations keep the same size for
many years.
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23. Predict what would happen if we added another herbivore to the system. *You can run this sim if you want*
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Would the number of Yes, with more prey they will have more resources and less competition
wolves increase? Why between other wolves.
or why not
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Would the number of No, as they would have more predators and more competition for the own
rabbits increase? Why resources between the new herbivore.
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or why not?
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Assessment *These answers are not in the simulation, APPLY what you have learned.
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24. Pandas are animals that are SPECIALISTS and only eat one type of food (bamboo) in the forest where
they live. If another animal moves into the forest and also eats that type of food. What will likely happen to
the panda?
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The panda population will decrease due to a new competitor eating their resources.

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 25. Two species of barnacles live in shallow areas of the
ocean. One species tends to live at the top of rocks and the
other lives in the lower areas. Explain how this illustrates the
COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE?

The both get to survive on the same resources, but at

different times so they can coexist and allow each time to
consume the resource.

24. A wolf is a KEYSTONE species. Explain how the wolf

indirectly affects the population numbers of plants.

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More wolves will cause less herbivores eating plants, as we saw a great plant population in the sim even
with two herbivore in the environment. However, less wolves will cause more herbivore due to less

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predators, causing a greater demand in resources from the plants.
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