捕食（英语：Predation，或称猎食或掠食）是生态学中一种生物交互方式，在这种方式中，捕食者会捕食其他的生命，而这些被捕食者则称为猎物。在进食或行动的过程里，捕食者不一定会杀死牠们的猎物。此外生态学上还有另一类称为食腐动物的消费者，这类动物以死者残留下来的有机物质为食。不过有时候捕食与食腐两种行为并不容易完全地分开，举例而言，某些寄生性物种会捕食寄主，并在其身上下蛋，让后代能以腐烂的寄主尸体为食。捕食行为的关键特征在于捕食者对猎物族群有直接影响，而食腐行为则单纯只吃身边可食的对象，且对「供给」食物的个体没有直接影响。

In an ecosystem, predation is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption. Thus predation is often, though not always, carnivory. Other categories of consumption are herbivory (eating parts of plants), fungivory (eating parts of fungi), and detritivory (the consumption of dead organic material (detritus)). All these consumption categories fall under the rubric of consumer-resource systems. It can often be difficult to separate various types of feeding behaviors. For example, some parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on it while it continues to live in or on its decaying corpse after it has died. The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population. On the other hand, detritivores simply eat dead organic material arising from the decay of dead individuals and have no direct impact on the "donor" organism(s).