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Predator-prey interactions are often viewed as evolutionary arms races; while predators improve their hunting behaviors and their ability to sneak up on their prey, the prey improve upon their abilities to detect and escape from their predators. The problem, of course, is that there is a trade-off between maintaining vigilance – the attention necessary to be consistently aware of others in the environment takes quite a bit of physical and mental energy – and doing all the other things that an animal must do, such as finding its own food.

Humans have harvested the sea for tens of thousands of years, but only in the past few centuries have we begun to take a big toll on ecosystems. The two food webs below show predatory relationships among life-forms in the northern Adriatic Sea.

Scientists have been trying to answer the question of whether marine protected areas, where sharks and their prey are off-limits to fishermen, are indeed home to more sharks than non-protected areas of the ocean. [More]

True to their name, boa constrictors squeeze the life out of their prey. But how does a boa know it's snuffed out a rat? The snake listens for a heartbeat.

By Katherine Rowland of Nature magazine Carnivorous plants catch their prey in pools, glue and snap traps. [More]