Percent of Owl Prey in Class Owl Population

Reflections/Answering Questions

 Based upon the class data, rank the most frequently consumed prey for the class “owl population”

Based on the data, I can tell that the most consumed prey for the class population is the rat, because 42% of all the biomass consumed was rat biomass.

A predator expends energy when hunting for food. Which is more “energy expensive” cuisine, 35 insects at 1 gram each or one 35 gram vole?

It would be more energy expensive to eat 35 insects than 1 gram each than one 35 gram vole, because It would take many trips and a longer time hunting to get 35 insects, rather than 1 vole. However, if voles were extremely rare and the owl found a new insect nest and scooped up 35 insects, then it would be more energy expensive to spend a long time hunting for a vole rather than scooping up a huge portion of insets at once. that situation would be rare though, so it would be safe to assume that in general it is more energy expensive to eat 35 insects rather than one vole.

Try to define the food-getting “strategy” for a predator.

The food getting strategy for a predator, although it varies for each animal, is basically the systematic plan that the predator uses to get it's food. It can also vary according to what environment the predator is in. For a barn owl, the strategy could be to swoop down from high above and snatch up mice to eat. For a bat, the strategy could be to find insects using echolocation and eat them.