If people are frightening a top predator to such an extent that it’s eating less of its cache, she says, that’s clearly going to affect the predator population.

This will cause the predator population to dip, decreasing the predation pressure on the prey population.

Suggested conservation work for the future includes habitat restoration and predator population control.

Studies show furthermore that direct effects on the predator population, through harvesting of the prey, are not necessary to observe the paradox.

Thus, reduction in the abundance of top predators may cause the medium-sized predator population to increase, therefore having a negative effect on the underlying prey community.