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Commensalism (+/0)
To explain commensalism in a metaphor, it is as if A benefits from B without affecting, harming nor benefiting B in any way. Examples of commensalism include 1.) remora and shark (the remora lives on the shark skin without causing any damage to the shark while the shark provides it with food, protection and transportation) 2.) barnacle and whale (barnacles do not consume any part of the whale, but living on it would give them a wider opportunity to catch food) |
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Definition
Mutualism (+/+)
In the condition of mutualism, both parties benefit. Examples are 1.) tick birds and rhinoceros (tick birds eat parasites on the rhinoceros’ skin; while the rhinoceros get parasites removed and warned about danger when tick birds fly away) 2.) fungus and lichen (lichen produce food for fungus by photosynthesis; while fungal threads support algae and conserve water) |
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Definition
| Tropic levels are defined to be the different levels in a food chain. This relationship is often depicted by food webs. (The relationship includes producers and primary customers; prey and predators, etc). When energy is transferred from one tropic level to the other, about 10% of the energy is lost. |
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Term
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Definition
-nutritional strategy; one member of the couple harms the other (parasite VS host)
-parasite benefits at the expense of the host (+/-)
-exist when competition for food is most intense
-eg tick, flatworms, viruses |
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Definition
-total number of different species (i.e. the qualitative distribution)
-Species richness and relative abundance of a population add up to become the species diversity |
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Definition
-biological agents that bring harm to their hosts
-in multicellular and unicellular plants
-usually form soil contamination |
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