“Who are the people in your neighborhood?” Interactions between organisms

Roles in Ecosystems Niche = Where organism lives/carries out “job” How organism obtains fuel (food) Some words: habitat, biome, etc. Some words: Producer and Consumer, autotroph and heterotroph, herbivore and carnivore, predator or scavenger, etc… The “job” of an organism in an ecosystem Described using

For Example The Waterstrider – top-water predator of small animals on the surface of the water

Types of Interactions There are several different ways organisms can interact.

Predation A trophic (feeding) relationship where one organism eats another, killing it. Other trophic relationships are herbivory and detritivory Hawk photo from: Consuming plants Consuming dead organisms

Competition = The maximum number of organisms that can be supported by available resources Habitat Food/nutrients Mates Carrying capacity The struggle for limited resources

Competition Interspecific = between 2 different species Intraspecific = between same species When populations rise over carrying capacity (increase in population or decrease in resources)  more competition

Symbiosis When 2 different species live in a close, inter-dependent relationship. At least one member of the pair benefits. Livingtogether

Symbiosis Mutualism: When both organisms benefit; What most people think of as “symbiosis”. e.g. Lichens, coral Commensalism: One benefits by eating unused food, the other is unaffected e.g. gut bacteria, remora and sharks Parasitism: One benefits the other is harmed (not killed) e.g. tapeworm, ticks

Altruism One organism helps another organism but gets no benefit, risks harm or is harmed in doing so Being “nice” Common in some birds Can be intraspecific or interspecific Beware of anthropomorphisms! Fairy wren photo:

Let’s look for some interactions! Lab time! Yep………. It’s