Lecture 4

Ecosystems & Living Organisms

Lecture 5 Ecosystems & Living Organisms

Interactions Among Organisms

http://proberts10.wikis.birmingham.k12.mi.us

http://healthyhomegardening.com

Ecosystems & Living Organisms

There are 3 main interactions among organisms:

1. Predation
2. Symbiosis 3. Competition

Predation
- relationship where one organism consumes another
Venus Flytrap

- includes animals eating other animals, animals eating plants and plants eating animals.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/dox/symbiosis.html

Predator - depends totally or in part on killing another organism for its food
Prey - organism killed and eaten by a predator

Predator Strategies
Predator strategies include:

1. Pursuit (chase)
2. Ambush (lie in wait) 3. Special hunting traits e.g., speed, agility, claws 4. Traps

5. Hunting in packs

Prey Strategies
Plant Defense Strategies include: - spines or thorns - leathery or waxy leaves

- produce bitter or poisonous chemicals

Prey Strategies
Animal Defense Strategies include:

- fleeing - camouflage - mechanical defenses, e.g., horns, quills - group living - warning coloration

Symbiosis
- a close relationship between 2 or more unrelated species usually involving nutrition The 3 main types of symbiotic relationships: 1. Mutualism 2. Commensalism 3. Parasitism

Mutualism symbiotic Mutualism - symbiotic relationship where both organisms shark relationship benefit from each other where both organisms benefit from each other

remora
Clownfish and Sea anemone
http://www.mahalo.com

Commensalism
- symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits while the other is unaffected

Epiphyte in the lowland dipterocarp rainforest, Danum Valley http://www.eoearth.org

Commensalism - Barnacles encrusted on the surface of a whale

Parasitism
- symbiotic relationship where one organism (HOST) is adversely affected by another which benefits (PARASITE) - well-adapted parasites do not kill their hosts - e.g., tick on dog, tapeworm in the human gut

Hooks and suckers on head for attachment to body organs

Head of a tapeworm
http://www.bio.miami.edu

Tapeworm

Tomato Hornworm covered with cocoon of braconid wasps

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu

Ecological Niche
Niche - the sum total of all the requirements and activities of a species - an organisms unique role

- an organisms profession
- reduces competition between species

Fundamental vs. Realized Niche

Fundamental Niche - full potential range of physical, chemical & biological factors a species could use if there were no competition from other species

Fundamental vs. Realized Niche

Realized Niche - the portion of the fundamental niche that a species actually occupies
- species with a narrow realized niche (specialist species) are more susceptible to extinction

Habitat

- the physical & biological resources required by an organism - an organisms address

Competition
-if 2 different species require a common resource they are said to be in competition for it

http://www.biotopics.co.uk

Competitive Exclusion Principle

- also called Gauses Principle
- two (2) species cannot live in the same identical niche & if they try one (1) will be excluded

Evolution & Succession

Evolution & Succession

Evolution - change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next - involve processes which introduce new variations / characteristics (mutations or interbreeding) and processes that make new variants either increasingly rare or common - does not necessarily mean speciation

Natural Selection
- a theory advanced by Charles Darwin (1809 1882) to explain how evolutionary change occurs

- if certain individuals are better able to survive & leave more offspring because of their genetic traits, then frequency of the genes will change over subsequent generations

Succession
Succession is a process of community development that involves a changing sequence of species.

Succession
The pioneer community is the first community to colonise or re-colonise an area. Primary succession is community development in an area that has not been previously inhabited e.g. on bare rock, sand, hardened lava flow from volcano, area left by a retreating glacier. Secondary succession is community development in an environment that has been previously inhabited but was destroyed by some process e.g. fire, flood, harvesting etc.

Usually takes thousands of years to reach climax community

Primary Succession on a lava field on the Rangitoto Island near New Zealand
http://en.wikipedia.org

Usually takes hundreds of years to reach climax community

Secondary Succession

Secondary Succession on an uncultiva

http://en.wikip