1. How could you experimentally test whether herds of African antelope affect the abundance of plants on which they graze?

2. Explain why an herbivore that consumes many different species of plant might be less successful at regulating the abundance of a well-defended plant species compared to an herbivore that specializes on eating a single species of plant.

3. In the classic experiments of C. F. Huffaker with mites and oranges, what mechanisms allowed the predator and prey populations to persist?

4. Which factors determine the duration of population cycles and which determine the magnitude of change in population sizes?

5. Explain in words the equations of the Lotka-Volterra model for the change in the population sizes of prey and predators.

6. According to the Lotka-Volterra model of predator–prey interactions, why do predator and prey populations cycle?

7. How do search image formation and prey switching behavior lead to a type III functional response in predators?

8. Compare and contrast a predator’s numerical response and functional response.

9. How might a type II functional response prevent a predator from controlling a large prey population?

10. Explain the causes of an evolutionary arms race between consumers and the species that they consume.