Animals and plants depend on each other in many ways!
Watch this film clip of a Painted Lady, a Silver Y moth and then a Hummingbird Hawk-moth drinking nectar from the Buddleia flowers. The Hawk-moth moves so fast it is almost impossible to follow it as it darts from one flower to the next!
In any habitat, the animals and plants there are linked together in a complex ecosystem.
The study of animals and plants in their ecosystems is called ecology.
How does this Brimstone Moth depend on the Laburnum tree it is perched in?
Coming soon! more about camouflage.
How does the flower in this picture benefit from the beautiful moth that drinks its nectar?
How does the future of this Blue Tit and its family depend on the larvae of this tiny Green Oak Tortrix moth?
Find out more about Food Chains - click here.
Bats will feed on night-flying moths but there are always far fewer bats than there are moths. Just look at the mass of moths attracted to a brightly lit sheet on a warm summer's evening!
Ladybirds and their larvae eat blackflies - you might have noticed how these aphids will infest plants like broad beans and cause a lot of damage. But you'll never see as many Ladybirds as blackfly.
The predators are always in much smaller numbers than the prey species.
The Blue Tits that feed on the caterpillars in the oak trees will always outnumber the Sparrowhawks that prey on them.
In any community of animals and plants, the herbivores will outnumber the carnivores and the small carnivoes will always outnumber the top predators. This pattern is called the 'Pyramid of Numbers'. More about this soon!
Two UK butterfly species have been studied in great detail to find out how their numbers go up or down as a result of other animals eating their eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides or adult stages: these are the Wood White and the Brown Hairstreak. Click here to find out more about these Predation studies.
Every four or five years, the populations of the Holly Blue butterfly crash in many areas and the culprit is this tiny wasp.
Coming soon! more about how parasites affect butterflies.
Below is a grizzly gallery showing butterflies and other insects being caught by predators! Click on the first picture, then scroll through the gallery by clicking on the 'next' button on the top righthand side.
