| 释义 |
preˈdation
Also 5–6 -acion.
[ad. L. prædātiōn-em a taking of booty, n. of action f. prædārī to plunder: see prede v.]
†1. The action of plundering or pillaging; depredation. Obs.
c1460G. Ashby Dicta Philos. 968 On erthe ther is no thing so vnsemyng As a kynge to be in predacion, Or by compulsion to be taking. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 143 Thys sodain visitacion or predacion, cleane shaued them. [Margin] Predacion, that is a robbery. 1664Evelyn Sylva (1679) 20 The good Husbands expected..that the Fruit should improve, as freed from the predations of the Hedge.
2. Zool. The action of one animal preying upon another. Also transf. and fig.
1932W. L. McAtee in Smithsonian Misc. Coll. LXXV. No. 7. 144 Predation takes place much the same as if there were no such thing as protective adaptations. 1937Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. 1936 243 (heading) What is the meaning of predation? Ibid., Predation has been shown..not to be, in a collective sense, an inexorable tax upon the luckless prey species. 1944J. S. Huxley On Living in Revolution 61 The raids of the slave⁓making ants are not true war, but a curious combination of predation and parasitism. 1954D. Lack Nat. Regulation of Animal Numbers xiv. 156 The small passerine birds cannot have been limited in numbers by predation. 1959Listener 10 Dec. 1032/1 This predation of birds upon insects is of considerable practical importance. 1968Nature 17 Aug. 694/1 Predation from vertebrates and the uncertainty associated with nests attached to palm leaves were certainly principal factors [in the death of Scaphidura chicks]. 1975W. H. Nesbitt in M. W. Fox Wild Canids xxvii. 395 They [sc. feral dogs] are a valuable part of the fauna by their sanitary predation activities. 1976E. Curio Ethology of Predation 1 Predation is an ecological factor of almost universal importance for the biologist. 1977Reader & Croze Pyramids of Life i. 30/1 In its continuous ‘predation’ on plants, the elephant tears branches from trees, pulls great tufts of grass and roots from the earth. 1977Times 11 Feb. 17/3 New entrants to the shipping business are said to have little chance of surviving outside the conference network because of..the threat of predation (the practice of selling below cost to destroy competition). |