Download Ecological Interactions - Westhampton Beach Elementary School

ECOLOGICAL
INTERACTIONS
ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS
Objectives:
1. Be able to define each level of
ecological organization
2. Identify 3 ways organisms can interact
3. Name and explain the 3 categories or
symbiosis
4. How do organisms affect the balance
of life in their ecosystem
ECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
Ecosystem  the communities of
organisms that live in a particular area, with
their nonliving surroundings
Community  all the different populations
(biotic) that live in an area together
Population  all the members of one
species in a particular area
Organism  each individual living thing
Niche
• Everything an organism does or needs in
its environment
• Its job or role in the environment
Competition
• Struggle between organisms to obtain
things they need for survival (food, water,
shelter, light)
• Competition can be within a population or
between populations of different species
using the same resource
• i.e. rabbits competing for food in a field or
rabbits competing with squirrels for
suitable shelter
Predation
• To catch, kill, and eat another organism
• The animal being caught is referred to as
the PREY
• i.e. fox hunts and eats a rabbit
Symbiosis
• Close relationship between two
organisms where at least one of them
derives some benefit
• 3 categories of symbiosis
–Commensalism
–Mutualism
–Parasitism
Commensalism
• One organism benefits and the other is
NOT harmed (+, 0)
• i.e. dust mites on your arm
Nemo and sea
anemone
Mutualism
• Both organisms benefit (+, +)
• i.e. human intestinal bacteria. They get
food from us and give us vitamins
Bee collects pollen
to make honey.
Flower uses bee to
spread pollen to
other flowers
Parasitism
• One organism benefits and the other is
harmed (+, -)
• i.e. athlete’s foot, tapeworm
Tapeworms live in
the intestines and
steal nutrients from
the host
Life in Balance
• Maintaining a stable environment is
HOMEOSTASIS
• As organisms use resources in their
environment and interact with other
organisms, they upset the natural balance
and must continually adapt to survive
• Over time this leads to permanent
changes in the species  EVOLUTION