Intraspecific Competition and Cooperation

What is a community in ecological terms?

A group of populations living together in an area and interacting with each other.

What are the two types of relationships within a community?

Intraspecific (same species) and interspecific (different species).

What leads to competition among individuals of the same species?

Individuals share the same ecological niche with similar requirements for resources.

What is an example of competition in plants?

Competition for light and nutrients in the soil

What is an example of competition in animals?

Competition for food, water, and breeding sites

What is an example of competition in flowering plants?

Competition for pollinators

What may individuals in a population also do?

Cooperate in a variety of ways

What is communal roosting in birds?

A behavior that provides warmth and protection to birds.

What is a bait ball in fish?

A defensive formation that makes it harder for predators to catch them.

What is group hunting in wolves?

A social predation strategy that increases chances of success.

What is shared parental care in meerkats?

Behavior that allows other parents to attend to different tasks.

What are the six categories of interspecific relationship?

• Herbivory

• Predation

• Interspecific competition

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Pathogenicity

What does herbivory describe?

An animal eating a plant

e.g. a gazelle feeding on grasses.

What is predation?

An animal eating another animal

e.g. a European blackbird feeding on earthworms.

What is interspecific competition?

Competition between two or more different species

e.g. gull species feeding on a shoreline.

What is mutualism?

An interaction where two species benefit from each other

e.g. pollinators fertilizing flowering plants.

What is parasitism?

An interaction where one species benefits and the other is harmed

e.g. dog fleas living in a dog's fur.

What does pathogenicity refer to in ecological relationships?

One species causing a disease in another

e.g. mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis in humans.