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1. What is inharmonious ecological interaction?
Inharmonious, or negative, ecological interaction is that in which at least one of the participating beings is harmed.
2. How are ecological interactions classified?
Ecological interactions are classified as intraspecific or interspecific interactions and as harmonious or inharmonious interactions.
3. What are intraspecific and interspecific ecological interactions?
Intraspecific ecological interactions are those between individuals of the same species. Interspecific ecological interactions are ecological interactions between individuals of different species.
4. What is inharmonious ecological interaction?
Inharmonious, or negative, ecological interaction is that in which at least one of the participating beings is harmed.
5. What is harmonious ecological interaction?
Harmonious, or positive, ecological interaction is that in which none of the participating beings is harmed.
6. What are the main intraspecific ecological interactions?
The main harmonious intraspecific ecological interactions are colonies and societies. The main inharmonious intraspecific ecological interactions are intraspecific competition and cannibalism.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: colonies animal societies
7. What are colonies and societies?
Colonies are functional integrated aggregates formed by individuals of the same species. Colonies are often confused with a single individual. Examples are the coral reefs, by-the-wind sailors and filamentous algae.
Societies are interactions for labor division and collaboration among individuals of the same species. Human societies are examples of ecological societies; other species, like bees, ants, termites, wolves and dolphins, also form societies.
8. What is competition? Which type of ecological interaction is competition?
Competition is the ecological interaction in which the individuals explore the same ecological niche or their ecological niches partially coincide and therefore competition for the same environmental resources takes place.
Competition is harmful for all participating beings and thus it is classified as an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity:
intraspecific competition
9. What is an example of intraspecific competition?
Intraspecific competition occurs in practically all species, for example, the competition of humans for a job.
10. Why is cannibalism an inharmonious intraspecific ecological interaction?
In cannibalism an individual eats other of the same species (occurs in some insects and arachnids). Since it is an interaction between beings of the same species and at least one of them is harmed (the other is benefited) the classification as inharmonious intraspecific ecological interaction is justified.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: cannibalism
11. What are the main interspecific ecological interactions?
The main harmonious interspecific ecological interactions are: protocooperation, mutualism and commensalism. The main inharmonious interspecific ecological interactions are: interspecific competition, parasitism, predatism and ammensalism.
12. What is protocooperation?
Protocooperation is the ecological interaction in which both participants benefit but which is not obligatory for their survival. Protocooperation is a harmonious (positive) interspecific ecological interaction. Examples of protocooperation are: the action of the spur-winged plover that using its beak eats residuals from crocodile teeth; the removal of ectoparasites from the back of bovines by some birds that eat the parasites; the hermit crab that live inside shells over which sea anemones live (these offer protection to the crab and gain mobility to obtain food).
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: protocooperation
13. What is mutualism?
Mutualism is the ecological interaction in which both participants benefit and that is obligatory for their survival. Mutualism is a harmonious (positive) ecological interaction. Mutualism is also known as symbiosis. Examples of mutualism are: the association between microorganisms that digest cellulose and the ruminants or insects within which they live; the lichens, formed by algae or cyanobacteria that make organic material for the fungi and absorb water with their help; nitrifying bacteria of the genus Rhizobium that associated to leguminous plants offer nitrogen to these plants.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: mutualism
14. What is commensalism?
Commensalism is the ecological interaction in which one individual benefits while the other is neither benefited nor harmed. Commensalism is a harmonious (positive) ecological interaction, since none of the participants is harmed. An example of commensalism is the numerous bacteria that live in the skin and in the digestive tube of humans without being pathogenic or beneficial. They are innocuous bacteria living in commensalism with humans.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: commensalism
15. What benefits can commensalism offer to a species?
Commensalism may involve obtainment of food (for example, the innocuous bacteria of the human gut), shelter or support (epiphytes on trees) and transportation (pollen carried by insects or birds). The commensalism that involves obtainment of shelter is also called inquilinism.
16. What are some examples of interspecific competition?
Examples of interspecific competition are: the dispute among vultures, worms, flies and microorganisms for carrion and the competition between snakes and eagles for rodents.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: interspecific competition
17. What is parasitism?
Parasitism is the ecological interaction in which a being lives at the expense of another. The parasite often does not cause immediate death of the host since it needs the host alive to survive.
Parasitism is an inharmonious (negative) interspecific ecological interaction, since although one participant benefit the other is harmed.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: parasitism
18. What are some examples of parasitism?
Classical examples are the parasites of humans (host), like the trypanosome that causes Chagas’ disease, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, the schistosome that causes schistosomiasis, the hookworms, etc. Other examples are: tree (host) and parasitic helminths (parasite), dog (host) and lice (parasite), cattle (host) and tick (parasite), etc.
19. What is predatism?
Predatism is the ecological interaction in which one individual mutilates or kills another to get food. Predatism is an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction since one participant is harmed.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: predatism
20. Is herbivorism a form of predatism?
Herbivorism is a form of predatism in which first order consumers feed from producers (plants or algae). For example, birds and fruits, humans and edible vegetables, etc. (There are proposals to consider the herbivorism of leaves a form of parasitism and the herbivorism of entire plants and seeds a form of predatism).
21. What is ammensalim?
Ammensalism is the ecological interaction in which an individual harms another without obtaining benefit. Ammensalism is an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction since one participant is harmed.
(Sometimes it is wrongly said that ammensalism is a form of ecological interaction in which an organism releases in the environment substances that harm another species; this situation is indeed an example of ammensalim but the concept is not restricted to it.)
One of the best examples of ammensalism is the one established between humans and other species under extinction due to human actions like habitat devastation by fires, ecological accidents, leisure hunting, etc. Anther example is the red tide, proliferation of algae that by intoxication can lead to death of fishes and other animals.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: ammensalism
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