Essay About Predator Build And Much Energy

Ecosystems
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Factors of Community:
Interactions between the climate and topography
“Rainfall, soil, temperature”
The food and resources that grow
Other specific resources necessary for a species to survive and adapt to. (Ecological niche)
Species interaction
Physical disturbances, addition/removal of certain species
-These factors determine population sizes of an ecosystem.
-Conditions of arctic regions dont allow many animals to live there due to the low temperature.
Niches: (all relationships in which species engage in order to survive and reproduce)
-Fundamental Niche is a theoretical niche, where there are no constraints or limited resources)
-Realized Niche is the actual niche, where there are constraints on resources)
Symbiosis: (“living together” Species interacting in +, -, and = ways)
Mutualism (++)
-Both species in interaction benefit
-Obligatory Mutualism
-One species cannot grow/reproduce without another species
EX. Yucca plants are only pollinated by Yucca moths.
-Yucca moths only grow in the yucca plant and only eat Yucca seeds.
Co-evolution
-The prey and predator build better defenses and counters to the others abilities.
-Since the best of the prey/predator survive more often, they have more chance to reproduce.
-Soon only the strong survive, thus, the best ways of countering reach the entire population.
-EX. Camouflage, Mimicry (faking a characteristic), Spewing toxins, showing teeth, etc
Carrying Capacity
-Maximum number of individuals that resources of environment can maintain.
-Predator-Prey populations can fluctuate.
-Predators may not adjust quickly enough to the abundance of prey.
-Additional predators could also influence the rate.
-As more predators reproduce and eat more prey, the prey population decreases.
-As more prey dies, predators have less to eat and begin to die off.
-With fewer predators, the prey once again starts to reproduce at a faster pace.
Predator- Animals that feed on living organisms, but do not live on them
Prey- targets of predators that are killed
Parasites- Feeds on tissues of living organisms and live on them
Host- the organism a parasite feeds on
Effects of Parasites
-Feeds off the hosts tissues nutrition.
-Alters how much energy enters the organism, and weakens it.
-Can alter birth rates, can sterilize, or make organisms less attractive to mates.
-Can open prey to diseases and infections.
-Usually does not want to cause death, so that it can reproduce for a longer period of time
Microparasites
-Rapid reproducers and personally infect the body.
EX. Bacteria, Viruses, Protozoan
Macroparasites
-Directly lay their eggs on the host.
EX. Fleas, ticks, mites, lice
Social Parasites
-Manipulate the social behavior of another species.
EX. Cuckoos lay their eggs in nests of other species, which push the rightful eggs out.
-The mother of the original eggs ends up feeding the cuckoos.
Parasitoids
-Insect larvae that always kill what they eat (larvae and pupae of other insects)
-EX. Wasps give sawfly larvae buried in the ground to their larvae.
-Coevolution keeps both populations in balance. As the sawflies begin to dig deeper and deeper into the ground.
Using Parasites as Control Agents
-Many parasites are raised in order to control the population of certain areas
-5 attributes of good biological controls:
Well adapted to a host species and habitat
Exceptionally good for searching the host
Population growth is higher than the hosts
Offspring are mobile enough
Able to respond to changes of the host quickly
-Biological controls are risky
-Too many biological controls may be ineffective.
-Biological controls can unexpectedly target the wrong species.
Interspecific Competition:
-Populations of different species compete for one resource
-Two species can be similar, but never close as their own species.
-Hence, it is much less fierce than intraspecific competition.
-Some species have better talent to get the resource
-Some species have better access of the resource, and protect it from others
EX. Male