The Florida panther was actively hunted to near extinction. One of the cats' prey items is the white-tailed deer, which eats cypress tree saplings, making the deer what kind of consumer? Because the cypress tree saplings make their own food by using solar energy, what does this make them? The only competition for the Florida panther is the American alligator. Neither species actively preys on each other but will fight each other directly over food. This means the Florida panther is what kind of consumer? Recently, a new competitor, the Burmese python, was illegally introduced into Florida. It is a non-native species, making it what kind of species? The near extermination of the cats caused the deer population to explode and the cypress tree population to decrease. The 1993 reintroduction of the cats caused the deer population to decrease, but the cypress tree population increased. Though the Florida panther's numbers are low, their populations impact the Everglades greatly because they're what kind of species?
Answer these five questions and explain why in at least one sentence.