N a certain ecosystem, hawks prey on mice. If the population of hawks gets smaller, what will happen to the population of mice? A) It will grow larger, because there are fewer predators. B) It will grow smaller, because the mice rely on hawks for food. C) It will remain the same, because hawks do not affect mice.

A) It will grow larger, because there are fewer predators.

Explanation:

The hawk is a predator of the mouse. In this case, if the hawk population increases, the number of rat predators increases and this causes the rat population to decrease, due to an intense predatorism that hunts them. However, there comes a time when the population of mice will be so small that they will no longer be able to feed the hawks, who will starve to death, or migrate to a region where they have more food. As a result, the hawk population decreases progressively, allowing rats to reproduce and increase the population. Thus, the decrease in the population of hawks, decreases the number of predators of rats and allows the population of animals to grow.