Editing Predation (section)

==Definition==
[[File:IndianSpiderWasp.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Pompilidae|Spider wasps]] paralyse and eventually kill their hosts, but are considered [[parasitoid]]s, not predators.]]

At the most basic level, predators kill and eat other organisms. However, the concept of predation is broad, defined differently in different contexts, and includes a wide variety of feeding methods; moreover, some relationships that result in the prey's death are not necessarily called predation. A [[parasitoid]], such as an [[ichneumon wasp]], lays its eggs in or on its host; the eggs hatch into larvae, which eat the host, and it inevitably dies. Zoologists generally call this a form of [[parasitism]], though conventionally parasites are thought not to kill their hosts. A predator can be defined to differ from a parasitoid in that it has many prey, captured over its lifetime, where a parasitoid's larva has just one, or at least has its food supply provisioned for it on just one occasion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gurr |first1=Geoff M. |last2=Wratten |first2=Stephen D. |last3=Snyder |first3=William E. |title=Biodiversity and Insect Pests: Key Issues for Sustainable Management |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ng4hIDQ_k8C&pg=PT105 |year=2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-23185-2 |page=105}}</ref><ref name=LaffertyKuris2002/>

[[File:Predation's Boundaries.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Relation of predation to other feeding strategies]]

There are other difficult and borderline cases. [[Micropredator]]s are small animals that, like predators, feed entirely on other organisms; they include [[flea]]s and [[mosquito]]es that consume blood from living animals, and [[aphid]]s that consume sap from living plants. However, since they typically do not kill their hosts, they are now often thought of as parasites.<ref name=PoulinRandhawa2015>{{cite journal |last1=Poulin |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Poulin (zoologist) |last2=Randhawa |first2=Haseeb S. |title=Evolution of parasitism along convergent lines: from ecology to genomics |journal=Parasitology |date=February 2015 |volume=142 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=S6–S15 |doi=10.1017/S0031182013001674 |pmc=4413784 |pmid=24229807}}</ref><ref name=Rollinson>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-385897-9.00001-X |chapter=The Many Roads to Parasitism |title=Advances in Parasitology Volume 74 |date=2011 |last1=Poulin |first1=Robert |volume=74 |pages=1–40 |pmid=21295676 |isbn=978-0-12-385897-9 }}</ref> Animals that [[Grazing|graze]] on [[phytoplankton]] or mats of microbes are predators, as they consume and kill their food organisms, while herbivores that browse leaves are not, as their food plants usually survive the assault.<ref name="Bengtson2002"/> When animals eat seeds (''[[seed predation]]'' or ''granivory'') or eggs (''[[egg predation]]''), they are consuming entire living organisms, which by definition makes them predators.<ref name=Janzen>{{cite journal |last1=Janzen |first1=D. H. |year=1971 |title=Seed Predation by Animals |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=465–492 |doi=10.1146/annurev.es.02.110171.002341|bibcode=1971AnRES...2..465J }}</ref><ref name="NilssonBjörkman1985">{{cite journal |last1=Nilsson |first1=Sven G. |last2=Björkman |first2=Christer |last3=Forslund |first3=Pär |last4=Höglund |first4=Jacob |title=Egg predation in forest bird communities on islands and mainland |journal=Oecologia |volume=66 |issue=4 |year=1985 |pages=511–515 |doi=10.1007/BF00379342|pmid=28310791 |bibcode=1985Oecol..66..511N |s2cid=2145031 }}</ref><ref name=HulmeBenkman2002/>

[[Scavenger]]s, organisms that only eat organisms found already dead, are not predators, but many predators such as the [[jackal]] and the [[hyena]] scavenge when the opportunity arises.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kane |first1=Adam |last2=Healy |first2=Kevin |last3=Guillerme |first3=Thomas |last4=Ruxton |first4=Graeme D. |last5=Jackson |first5=Andrew L. |date=2017 |title=A recipe for scavenging in vertebrates – the natural history of a behaviour |journal=Ecography |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=324–334 |doi=10.1111/ecog.02817 |bibcode=2017Ecogr..40..324K |hdl=10468/3213 |s2cid=56280901 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kruuk |first=Hans |title=The Spotted Hyena: A Study of Predation and Social Behaviour |publisher=University of California Press |year=1972 |isbn=978-0226455082|pages=107–108}}</ref><ref name="Bengtson2002"/> Among invertebrates, [[social wasp]]s such as [[yellowjacket]]s are both hunters and scavengers of other insects.<ref name="Schmidt2009">{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-374144-8.00275-7 |chapter=Wasps |title=Encyclopedia of Insects |date=2009 |last1=Schmidt |first1=Justin O. |pages=1049–1052 |isbn=978-0-12-374144-8 }}</ref>