Earth and Life Science

Module 10 - Interaction and Interdependence

TOPIC 1
Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the study of these relationships of interaction and
interdependence between living things and their environment.

Every living thing relies upon one another and their environment. No living creature could make due
all alone without relying upon different living beings and its environment. Interaction and
interdependence are two important relationships in nature.

Interdependence of Living Things

All life needs other life to survive, that's why all living things depend on their environment to supply
them with what they need, including food, water, and shelter. Many living things interact with other
organisms in their environment. In fact, they may need other organisms in order to survive. This is
known as interdependence.

(Picture- short explanation)

- For example, living things that cannot make their own food must eat other organisms for food.

The area wherein living things associate with each other and with their environment is known as the
ecosystem. Association among species help shape ecosystem.

The ecosystem comprises of all living and non-living things that interact with each other in a given
territory.

TOPIC 2

BIOTIC and ABIOTIC Factors

 Biotic Factor: Every living piece of an ecosystem, for example, animals,

plants, and other living being are called biotic factors. Living organisms interact in the ecosystem
to obtain food in order to survive. Their interactions can be used to classify them as to producers,
consumers and decomposers.
 Abiotic Factor: The non-living parts of an ecosystem are called abiotic factors.
The term “abiotic” comes from the root parts “a-” meaning “without,” and “bio,” meaning
“life.”Living creatures in a biological system can't be separated independently from the abiotic or
non-living components in their natural surroundings.

Picture- Interaction between living and non living things (Explain)

Carrying capacity is defined as the maximum number of the population in an ecosystem that can
withstand indefinitely. The population can sustain without getting declined or reduced due to
deterioration and damage.

Carrying capacity gets affected by two factors.

1. Biotic Potential
2. Environmental Resistance
TOPIC 3
Biotic Potential and Environmental Resistance
- These are the factors that influence the population growth.

Biotic potential: is the rate at which life forms reproduce when they have perfect conditions that
would advance effective generation.

It is likewise characterized as capacity of a populace of a species to propagate under perfect

conditions, for example, adequate food and water supply, no threat of diseases, suitable habitat and
no predators.

The following factors determine biotic potential:

1. numbers of offspring per reproduction
2. chances of survival age of reproduction
3. age at which propagation starts
4. how frequently every individual replicate

Significant differences in biotic potential exist between species – many large mammals, like humans
or elephants, will only produce one offspring per year and some small organisms, like insects, will
produce thousands of offspring per year.

Organisms do not tend to fulfill their full biotic potential because most species do not live under perfect
environmental conditions.
At some point, population growth will be hindered by predators, disease, changes in environment, a
lack of available food, or a combination of these factors.
The sum of the environmental factors that limit population is called environmental resistance.

TOPIC 3
Environmental Resistance
- refers to the factors that can limit the growth of a populace.
It includes predators, competitors, disease, lack of food and water and unsuitable habitat.
Nature employs certain different factors to regulate the growth of species to minimize the excessive
growth of population or overpopulation.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESISTANCE FACTORS

Aside from biotic potential, Environmental resistance factors are also a factors that inhibit the
population growth and influence the carrying capacity which is defined as the maximum number of
individuals that an ecosystem can support.

Biotic and abiotic factors that prevent the persistent development of a population like food, water and
space are called limiting factors. These factors are present in limited supply.

Availability of certain necessary resources is the factor of environmental resistance. These are:
- Food
- Climate
- Water
- Predation
- Diseases
- Collection of toxic metabolic waste
- Behavioral change in species (stress due to overpopulation)
BIOTIC RESISTANCE FACTOR

The environmental resistance factors are either abiotic or biotic. Living components of the
environment are called biotic factors.
According to the perspective of environmental resistance, the biotic factors oppose the species growth
by the following:

PARATISM
Parasitism is a type of symbiosis, which is defined as a tight and lasting biological contact between a
parasite and its host.the association may also lead to the injury of the host.

COMPETITION
A symbiotic relationship between or among living things that compete for a limited natural resources,
such as food, space, shelter, mate, ecological status, etc.
Competition occurs whenever the two species try to get the same resources in the same place and at
the same time

PREDATION
A form of a symbiotic relationship between two organisms of unlike species in which one of them acts
as a predator that captures and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey.
Using predation, the organisms get the energy to increase their life and reproduce to sustain the
existence of their fellow species.

LACK OF FOOD
All animals require food to live. The availability of food is a major factor in how many animals live in an
ecosystem. When food is in short supply, animal struggle to survive and it might cause to death.

Other Biotic Resistance Factor:

 Pathogens, Herbivory, Seed-eating animals, Species diversity, Toxic plants, Disease, Lack of
other organisms that support the invasive species.

ABIOTIC RESISTANCE FACTOR

The environmental resistance factors can be also abiotic. Non-living components are considered
abiotic factors.
When abiotic factors like temperature, rain, drought, sunlight, humidity and watder salinity contribute
to environmental resistance, they are called abiotic resistance factors.

In other conditions, like:

 soil quality, fluctuation in temperature , climate change , wrong amount of sunshine
These elements act against the growth of the population. By adaptability or evolution, the resistance is
surpassed.

In fact, both biotic and abiotic environmental resistance factors have the ability to excess or limit
population growth by impacting the survival, health reproductive viability, reproductive success, and
death rates of a species.
In some cases, certain species adapt themselves and manage according to environmental resistance.