On+the+Hunt

On the Hunt The role of predation has the effect of keeping prey populations numbers under control. Some examples in the San Francisco Bay estuary are the Opossum shrimp preying on zooplanktons, Saltmarsh Song Sparrows hunt for worms and snails in the marshes, or Red Fox searching for the nest of egrets, rails, or other birds. Predators and prey have a relationship in which both populations keep the others in check. When the prey populations grows the predator population then also grow thus bringing the prey population back to the normal range, the opposite is also true; if the predator population grows to fast the lack of prey will cause the predator population to decrease back to normal size. Predator-Prey relationships can have more then two organisms, for example, phytoplankton which are eating by zooplankton, which are then preyed on by grass shrimp that get eaten by the delta smelt and lastly the striped bass eats the smelt. Another example is Chain Sea squirt, which filter feeds on phytoplankton, and is then eaten by Bat Rays. Any change to the population of any of the organisms will have an effect on the other organisms and the all the other organisms keep the populations of each other in check.