How Organisms Interact in

Communities?
How Organisms Interact
in Communities
5 Major Types of Species
Interactions
• Predation
• Parasitism
• Competition
• Mutualism
• Commensalism
Evolution in Communities
Interactions Among Species
• Some interactions among species are the result of a long
evolutionary history in which many of the participants adjust
to one another over time.

• For example, natural selection has often led to a close match

between the characteristics of the flowers of a plant species
and its pollinators.

• Back-and-forth evolutionary adjustments between interacting

members of an ecosystem are called coevolution.
Coevolution
Predation
 Predation
• One individual captures, kills, and
consumes, another individual (predator-
prey).
• Evolution (natural selection) favors
adaptations
• Helps to regulate populations size
 • Predators survival depend on their ability to catch
prey.
• The prey’s survival depends on its ability to avoid
being captured.
 What types of adaptations could prey have to
avoid being captured?
• Speed, mimicry, camouflage, bright colors to
warn of toxicity (poisonous)
Camouflage
Leaf Mimic Insect

The owl butterfly mimics the eye

of a potential predator to scare off
an attacking individual.
 Mimicry
Poison arrow dart frog
(below)

Mantella Frog (above) resembles

the poisonous poison arrow dart
frog.
Another Form of Defense
• Animals that eat plants are considered
to be in predator - prey relationships.
• Some plants synthesize chemicals known
as secondary compounds that are
poisonous or irritating to the herbivore
consuming them.
• Example: Poison ivy
Plant Protection Mechanisms
 Symbiotic Species

• In symbiosis two or more species live together

in a close, long-term association.

• Symbiotic relationships can be beneficial to

both organisms or benefit one organism and
leave the other harmed or unaffected.

• Parasitism is one type of symbiotic

relationship that is detrimental to the host
organism.
Mutualism
• Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both
participating species benefit.

• A well-known instance of mutualism involves ants

and aphids.

• Ants provide protection for the aphids. In return,

the aphids produce honeydew, which the ants use as
a food source.
Mutualism
Pollination is one of the most important
mutualistic relationships on earth.
 Lichens
Lichens are symbiotic
associations of a fungus
with a photosynthetic
partner (photobiont) that
can produce food for the
lichen from sunlight. The
photobiont is usually
either green alga or
cyanobacterium.
The Egyptian Plover Bird picks leeches out of the teeth
of the crocodile. How does this benefit the crocodile?
How does this benefit the Plover Bird
 Parasitism
• In parasitism one organism feeds on and usually lives on or in
another, typically larger, organism.

• Parasites do not usually kill their prey (known as the “host”).

Rather, they depend on the host for food and a place to live.

• Parasites are divided into:

a. Endoparasite.
b. Ectoparasite.
Parasitism (External) = Ectoparasite

Ticks

Leeches Fleas
Parasitism (Internal) = Endoparasite

Ascaris

Hookworm
Commensalism
• A third form of symbiosis is commensalism, a symbiotic
relationship in which one species benefits and the other is
neither harmed nor helped.

• An example of commensalism is the relationships between

certain small tropical fishes and sea anemones.

• These fish live among and are protected by the tentacles of the
sea anemones, even though these tentacles would quickly
paralyze other fishes.
Whale shark and
remora fish
Sea Anemones and
Clownfish