"Predation pressure" refers to the intensity or force exerted by predators on their prey. It describes the level of risk or threat that prey animals face from being hunted and eaten by predators.
Full definition
Their relatively small size would have meant that choristoderes were probably exposed to
high predation pressure and strategies, such as live birth, and post-natal parental care may have improved survival of the offspring.
This may necessitate greater dispersal for the male hybrids pushing them out of range of female hybrids and exposing them to
greater predation pressure.
Bringing together the observed macaque behavior and environmental conditions, we interpret the variation seen in macaque stone tool selection and shellfish characteristics on Koram and NomSao Islands as the result of a feedback loop driven by the level
of predation pressure.
«African animals were adapted to
human predation pressure after 2 million years of hunting, but South American mammals had no previous experience of human hunting,» Fiedel explains.
«With our results of a negative relationship
between predation pressure and longevity that is largely independent of other key life history traits we were able to confirm the universality of the 50 year old evolutionary theory of aging on a broad geographical scale» concludes Mihai Valcu, first author of the study.
The
intense predation pressure, which could be as high as 80 per cent among birds in habitats where the mourner lives seems to have driven the evolution of complex anti-predatory strategies in the species.
We therefore compared sexual maturation stages of different shellfish sizes between the islands to assess potential changes in prey life history
where predation pressure is high.
Finally, if the macaques have had an evolutionarily significant effect on prey biology, we would expect to find that shellfish on Koram, which are exposed to
increased predation pressure, mature at a younger age (and smaller size) than shellfish on NomSao island.
[14 — 17] Actually, Nico Dauphiné and Robert J. Cooper take its already - tenuous claims one step further, citing Hawkins» work (actually a 2004 conference paper that summarizes his dissertation [18]-RRB- as evidence that «the
continuous predation pressure exerted by exotic predators in exponentially high densities can and has resulted in numerous local extinctions of continental land birds.»
[22] The
high predation pressure has clear impacts on the demography and life history of crabeater seals, and has likely had an important role in shaping social behaviors, including aggregation of subadults.
Resource subsidies, such as garbage or hunters» carcass dumps, can also support larger predator populations, leading to
greater predation pressure.
The inverse correlation between the number of tool - using macaques, prey size and availability, suggests that
predation pressure may be the primary cause of shellfish body size and population on these islands.
A single tool - using monkey on Koram can eat over 40 shellfish a day, so Luncz's group thinks
this predation pressure is driving these shellfish changes.
Predation Pressure Dauphine and Cooper make a similar leap when, to buttress their claim that «TNR does not reduce predation pressure on native wildlife,» [1] they cite a study not about predation, but about the home ranges of 27 feral cats on Catalina Island.
As with most islands, the northern Channel Islands contain a depauperate terrestrial vertebrate fauna, and it is possible that
predation pressures are much reduced here.
One prey item is adapted to high
predation pressure and supports the predator population (i.e. pigs), whereas the other prey item (i.e. the island fox) is poorly adapted to predation and declines as a consequence of the predation pressure.