Definition of predation

Summary

Predation is a biological interaction in which a predator kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is related to other feeding interactions—such as parasitism, micropredation, and parasitoidism—but differs in that the predator typically captures prey multiple times over its lifetime. Predation is also distinct from scavenging on dead prey (though many predators will scavenge) and overlaps with herbivory in cases like seed predation and destructive frugivory, where living plant tissues are consumed. Predatory behavior varies widely and is shaped by evolutionary adaptations. Predators may hunt actively (pursuit predation) or wait for opportunities (ambush predation), and some use intermediate strategies such as ballistic interception, where they predict prey motion and attack along an interception path. After capture, predators often need specialized handling adaptations to deal with dangerous prey. Predation also drives strong selective pressures on prey, leading to anti-predator defenses such as warning signals, camouflage, mimicry, and chemical or physical defenses, and can generate evolutionary “arms races” between predators and prey. Predation occurs across many taxa, including animals, carnivorous plants, fungi, and microorganisms, and it plays a major role in ecosystem dynamics and long-term evolutionary history.

Key Points

• 1

  Predation is defined as a predator killing and eating prey, and it differs from parasitoidism, which typically involves a single host that is eventually killed by the developing larva.

• 2

  Predators use different hunting strategies—ambush, pursuit, and ballistic interception—and often have specialized senses, weapons, and social or solitary behaviors.

• 3

  Prey evolve anti-predator adaptations (e.g., warning coloration, alarm calls, camouflage, mimicry, spines, and chemicals), and predator-prey interactions can drive coevolution and ecosystem population dynamics.