The Texas Hill Country ecosystem supports a variety of organisms. Animals such as owls, coyote, snakes and hawks compete for small animals for food. What might happen if the population of these predators became too large? The predators would share the prey population equally among all of the predator species. The predators would begin to eat plants rather than their usual prey. The predators would have more offspring of great size. The predators would consume the prey population faster than it could be replaced.

The predators would consume the prey population faster than it could be replaced.

Explanation:

According to Oxford dictionary; an ecosystem is "a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment."

An ecosystem is a self supporting unit that is composed of living and non living parts. The ecosystem should be self sustaining.

In the particular case mentioned in this question, when the predator population becomes so large, they will steadily diminish the prey population faster it can be replaced thereby distorting the balance of the ecosystem.