Question

practice it! a group of students is studying predator - prey relationships. they found data about lions and gazelles. lions are the predators and gazelles are the prey. the data is shown. select the conclusion that is best supported by the data. when the prey population rises, the predator population falls shortly after. this is because when there is more food to eat, predators become unhealthy and die out before they can reproduce. there is no relationship between the predator populations and the prey populations. they are independent of each other. when the prey population peaks, the predator population peaks shortly after. this is because when there is more food to eat, predators live long enough to reproduce. when the prey population falls, the predator population rises shortly after. this is because when there is less food to eat, predators live long enough to reproduce.

Explanation:

In predator - prey relationships, an increase in prey population provides more food for predators. This allows predators to survive longer and reproduce, leading to an increase in the predator population. The graph shows that when the gazelle (prey) population peaks, the lion (predator) population peaks shortly after.

Answer:

When the prey population peaks, the predator population peaks shortly after. This is because when there is more food to eat, predators live long enough to reproduce.