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What happens to the ecosystem when a predator species is extint?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Typically, the species that it ate overpopulate, and the ecosystem is disrupted.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
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Why is reproduction necessary for a species?
As they live the organisms comprising a species will age and die, they therefore need to reproduce (have babies) in order to replace the members of the species that die or the species will cease to exist (become extinct).
What are elephants related to?
The Wooly Mammoth is related to it but as you probely know, it's extint.
Describe the three stages of a volcanoes activity.?
Active (when it shows signs it may erupt or has been erupting), dormant (it has not erupted for a long time but there is a possibulity it may), and extint (most likely will never erupt again).
Why are humans the only innovative beings?
Big brains seem to be pretty rare in the evolution of animals on this planet. One of the reasons for this is cost. Keeping our brain running is expensive. Just consider these facts. 750-1000ml of blood flow through the brain every minute. (3 soft drink cans worth) In that minute the brain will consume 46cm3 (1/5 cups) of oxygen from that blood. Your brain is about 2% of your total body weight but uses 20% of your body's energy. The energy used by the brain is enough to light a 25 watt bulb. In evolutionary terms this would make a big brain pretty rare. Think of any struggle between predator and prey. Say a lion and a gazelle for example. There's camouflage in their colouring so they are harder to see in long grass and there's speed and agility. The gazelle's ability to jump high. Now in this struggle the cost of either lion or gazelle to evolve a big brain is too big compared to what they'll lose in speed or agility before that brain would develop enough to make a real difference. This is true of most predator/prey relationships. the other problem of developing a big brain is what do you use it for. You need a good way of manipulating the world for a brain to make use of it's abilities. Look at your hands, look at your thumbs. Brilliant for manipulating anything you come across. Perfect for grasping a stone or a stick to throw at or hit any approaching predator. Something to make up for what you lose running that expensive lump of grey matter. Lots of the larger brained animals also tend to be social. Managing complex social relationships in a pack, group or family tends to increase the selective pressure on a larger brain. So it has to be a situation in which there's a good selective pressure for a brain to grow to a large size in a body that has a good starting shape to take advantage of it. Dolphins are pretty smart (and self aware) and so are parrots. They don't have a good body structure to really take advantage of it. A parrot can use it's beak and legs to manipulate simple odjects in a basic way, but it's nowhere near what a primate has. Now for a creature that has a pretty big brain and decent limbs for manipulating objects other than primates look at the octopus. That is one smart animal. If humans were to become extint, that's the animal other than chimps and gorillas that might be a candidate for becoming super smart given the right selective pressures There are other costs to a big brain. One is probably Schizophrenia (see link in the source section). It's also likely that our brain is as big as its going to get. Any further increase in size may well be disadvantagious due to the problems our brain has been left with growing to this size in the first place.
How was the environment of the megalodons?
This is a very difficult question to answer, for two main reasons:a) C. megalodon lived for over 20,000,000 years, and a lot happened in earth's marine and climatic environements during such a long period of time.b) Paleoclimatologists are still trying to understand the complexity of climate changes during the Cenozoic era which, in turn, directly affected the oceans currents, temperatures, salinity, etc.C. megalodon appears in the fossil register in the Late Oligocene, when temperatures began to rise after the Early Oligocene abrupt temperature decline (the first time in the Tertiary era that Antarctica was covered by ice).During Late Oligocene, Antarctica was linked to Australia AND to South America, but Panama Isthmus did not existed yet. This means a totally different oceanic current worldwide system from today's oceanic currents. The Pacific and Atlantic oceans were connected, and no ocean conveyor belt existed.During the next period, the Miocene, temperatures became warmer, and Antarctica lost its ice cap.In the Miocene, cetaceans reached its highest diversity, and it was a flourishing period for the megalodon, because of abundance of food and warm oceanic water.But the megalodon at that time shared the top of the food chain with another formidable apex predator, the Livyatan melvillei, its «Nemesis».This predatory odontoceti cetacian could reached the same size of extant sperm whales, or could be even larger. Confirmed lenght of more than 17 metres is accepted today by paleontologists, but VERY FEW fossils of this apex predatory whale were found. Larger individuals are a probabilistic certitude.Moreover, Livyatan melvillei had not only teeth in BOTH upper and lower jaws - unlike today's sperm whales - but they had much larger teeth than megalodon (36 cm lenght, confirmed).The Middle Miocene extinction reached its peak, and a wave of extinctions of marine life diminuished megalodon food supply. Neverthless, the megalodon thrived.In the Late Miocene temperatures droped again, and Antarctica suffered a glaciation.In colder waters, more cetaceans became extint, including the mighty Livyatan melvillei. However, C. megalodonsurvived without a significant decrease of population.The next period, the Pliocene, arrived and temperatures kept dropping. Whale species became much larger, some reaching or exceeding the size of the extant blue whale.C. megalodon, beeing a warm blooded shark, adapted the best he could to colder oceans, although he prefers warm waters. It changed its prey attack behavior to feed on larger whales, and became also larger and adopted a more brutal attack to the new preys.The Drake Passage opened and Australia is no longer attached to Antarctica.North and South Americas are now connected, and the Pacific/Atlantic connection is over, except through the difficult and cold Drake Passage. The Isthmus of Panama made the end of the final remnant of what was once essentially a circum-equatorial oceanic current, for tens of millions of years.Megalodon populations from the Pacific loose contact with the Atlantic populations, which became reduced to relic populations over time.The Pacific is much, much larger and megalodon is now the only apex predator in the top of the food chain. Life is good for the megalodon in the warm Pacific.But the new Pleistocene period brings something that will put an end of more than 20 million years of C. megalodonocean dominance: the severe Quaternary glaciations.However these glaciation periods are more severe in the northern hemisphere, and each glaciation has a warm interglacial period.Megalodon's populations are greatly reduced, even in the Pacific. But the monstruous shark is tough, and in 1.5 million years BCE it is still hunting ferociously any prey he can eat.But his time must come to an end, as all species do.Reduced to isolated relic populations in the Pacific ocean, smaller males are fewer, because of cannibalism. The larger megalodon females still try parthenogenesis to avoid the extintion.But this is not enough.«Time to live, time to die.»In Blade Runner movie, Riddley Scott.
Why have some species become endangered or extint in North America?
global warming
What is the meaning of threatned species?
A threatened species Is when a type of animal or plant is in danger of going extint (dying out completely)
What is the most common reason that an animal species becomes extint?
imbalance in the life cycle.
If spotted owls were extint what would happen?
Without th Northern Spotted owls the balance of the ecosystem would be ruined
What species can go extint and be recreated?
A mule. Cross between a donkey and a horse. Mules are sterile.
What is a white tigers predator?
The hunters are the predator of white tigers because they hunt them for their medical values, thus killing them. Now the white tiger species is endangered... so I hope that nobody hunts them anymore because they are about to be extint and it is against the law. I hope all of you do not think that I'm talking crap because I love white tigers too much.
Why do scientists think horses became extint?
The species "native horse" did go extinct and that is what scientists are talking about. The "equus ferus'' species is still alive though.
Why is reproduction necessary for a species?
As they live the organisms comprising a species will age and die, they therefore need to reproduce (have babies) in order to replace the members of the species that die or the species will cease to exist (become extinct).
Are mockingbird extinct?
no they are not extint
Why do species get extint?
Its often because of disease, like if theres an outbreak between frogs that only they arent immune to. Another way is when their food supply is cut off.
Are pygmy rabbits extint?
no they are endangerd
has it been wrecked ?
how extint was the damage
