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Article: Theory and methods in carnivore conservation: who limits whom: predators or prey?
- Article from:
- Endangered Species Update
- Article date:
- July 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Abstract
Animal populations can be limited by the availability of food (limited from the bottom of the food chain up), by predators (limited from the top of the food chain down), or by the interaction of these two processes. Whether carnivores, in particular, limit the populations of their prey, or are limited by those prey, has long been controversial and is critical to conservation of prey and predatory species. I return to the question because it is a good question that we wish to have answered and, in part, because it has no simple answer. Our knowledge of ecological communities has matured to the point that we can tease the question apart, look at its ...