Competition and interdependence and biotic and abiotic factors

what is interdependence

the fact that all speices depend on other species in some way eg. rabbits and grasshoppers feed on grass and then hawks and sparrows feed on them so if anything happens to one it affects the others as well

what is competition

there are a range of different resources that organisms need to survive, these resources are limited so organisms must compete with each other

what do plants compete for

light

space

water

mineral ions

what do animals compete for

territory

mates

prey/food

water

what is an ecosystem

the interaction of a community of living organisms with the non living parts of their environment

what is a habitat

place where an organism lives

what is a population

all the organisms of a particular species that live in that habitat

what is a community

all the populations of diff. species that live together in a habitat

biotic factors

living factors of an environment that affects another organism or shapes the ecosystem in a way

abiotic factors

non living factors/parts of the environment that affect the organisms

explain three biotic factors

new predators arriving - in balanced ecosystems predators and prey have evolved together, predators can catch enough prey to survive but not so many that they kill all their food, so a new predator can disrupt this balance

out competition - the introduction of a new speices into an ecosystem can result in out-competing another native speices eg. if they’re stronger or better adapted eg. grey squirrels out competed red squirrels

new pathogens - can cause a decline in the population of a species living in that area

availability of food

list abiotic factors

light intensity

CO₂ concentration for plants

wind direction - wind affects where seeds settle and therefore germinate, plants and trees provide shelter and many organisms prefer more sheltered locations so the animals that depend upon these are more likely to settle in those areas

moisture levels - many plants can’t survive in water logged soils, other plants grow best in bogs where moisture levels are high

temperature

soil pH - some plants grow best in acidic soils whereas some prefer alkaline soils

soil mineral content