Ecosystems

Competition

Organisms fighting over resources (food & shelter)

Negative effects on both species

Reduces population

Predation

1 organism using another for energy source (Hunters, parasites, herbivories)

Positive for one species negative for the other

Mutalism

Relationship that benefits BOTH organisms

Ex: Coral

Commensalism

Relationship that benefits one organism & doesn’t affect the other

(One benefits and ones neither positive nor negatively affected)

Herbivores

Plant eaters

True predators (carnivors)

Kill and eat prey for energy

Parasites

Uses a host organism for energy (does not kill host)

Parasitoids

Lays eggs inside host

Eggs hatch and eats (kills) the host

Symbiosis

Any close & long term interaction between two organisms of different relationships.

Ex: Mutualism, commensalism, parasitism

Intraspecific competition

Struggle between members of the same species for shared, limited resources

Partitioning

How different species share the same habitat without fighting

Niche partitioning

Species partition, or divide up, resources by using their environment in different ways

Resource partitioning

Diff species using the same resource in diff ways to reduce competition

Temporal partitioning

Using resources at diff times

Ex: night vs. day

Spatial partitioning

Using diff areas of a shared habitat

Morphological partitioning

Using diff resources based on diff evolved body features