ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

(PE014IU)

LECTURE 4
Species interaction and Population control

MAppSc. Dao Bui

Outlines

1. Biological community structure

2. Type of species

3. Species interaction

4. Population dynamic
Biological community structure
❖Biological communities differ in their structure and
physical appearance.
• Distinguish by relative sizes, stratification and
distribution of population and species in each
community.
❖Communities differ in types, number of species and
their ecological roles
• Species richness: number of different species
• Species evenness: abundance of individuals within
each of those species
Community 1 have greater species evenness and it has higher
diversity
Types of Species
❖Native species: species normally live and thrive in a
particular community.
• Example: Kiwi bird in New Zealand,

Phu Quoc Ridgeback in

Vietnam
❖Native species: Kiwi bird in New Zealand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OkCl0txAfM
❖Nonnative / Invasive/ Alien species: migrate into or
accidentally introduced into a community
• Nonnative species could be beneficial, or crowd
out native species and cause unintended and
unexpected consequence.
• Example: Red –eared slider in Vietnam
❖Invasive species: Red-eared Slider Invades Pennsylvania's Wildwood Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrDiPugIx_Y
❖Invasive species traits include:
• Fast growth
• Rapid reproduction
• High dispersal ability
• Able to alter growth form to suit with current
conditions
• Wide range of food type
• Prior successful invasion

Example: Golden apple snail

Question

Can invasive species bring benefit effect to

ecosystem?
❖Indicator species: serve as early warning of damage to a
community or an ecosystem. (biological smoke alarm)
• Example: Trout is indicator of water quality as they need
clean water with high levels of dissolved oxygen.
❖Keystone species: have large effect on the types and
abundances of other species in community
• Removal of this species greatly changes the entire
ecosystem. Could lead to crashes and extinction of other
species
• Example: Predation allows other organism to grow
without mussels dominating space
❖Foundation species: create and enhance habitats that
can benefit other species in a community.

• Example: Elephants push over, break or uproot

trees, creating forest opening in the savannah
grassland and woodlands of Africa. They promote
the growth of grasses and other forage plants that
benefit smaller grazing species
Questions

❖ How many species interactions?

❖ List some species interaction

 Species interaction
❖Some types of interaction between species when they
share limited resources:
• Competition : shared or scared food and space.

Interspecific (different species) and intraspecific

competition (within same species)

Red Spotted Newts might Interspecific competition

compete for females between lions and hyenas.
Species interaction
− Resource partitioning : occurs when species competing
for similar scarce resources evolve specialized traits that
allow them to use shared resources at different times, in
different ways, or in different places.
e.g. warblers who live in the same trees but have such
specialized feeding niches that they do not compete.
Species interaction
❖Parasitism: one species feeds on part of another
organism usually by living on or in the host. They can
harm their host organism. Example: tapeworms, fleas
or sea lampreys
Species interaction
❖Predation: members of 1 species feed directly on all or part
of a living organism of another species. Eating and being
eaten. Example Lion and zebra.
❖Predator are fast enough to catch prey, ability to hide, lie
in wait, camouflage, mimicry, inject chemical or paralyze
their prey…
❖Prey: use protective shell or thorn, camouflage, mimicry,
use chemical to repel or poison predator to keep alive,
warning color or autotomy (self amputation)…
Prey species with specialized ways of
avoiding predators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZg4SCmKRm4
Species interaction
❖Mutualism: 2 species interact in a way that benefit both.
Such as flower and bee, clownfish and sea anemones

❖Commensalism: some species interact in the way that

help 1 species but has little, if any effect on the other.
Such as Epiphytes are plants that attach themselves to
the trunks or branches of large trees for access to
sunlight; these represent commensalism
What kind of interaction between human and microbes?

youtu.be/1X8p0vhsWRE
❖Some types of
relationships list
be the effect.
Population dynamic
❖ of individuals
❖Group of individuals of the
into new area
same species inhabiting same
area

❖Population density: number of

individuals per unit area

❖Dispersal is the movement of

individuals into new area

❖Spatial distribution describes

where the population is found
(even or clumped)
Population
❖Question:

In nature, what can affect population

size and growth?
 Population change

No population can continue to grow indefinitely

(Births + (Deaths +
Population Change = -
Immigration) Emigration)
Exponential and Logistic growth
• Exponential growth
(J-shaped curve)
start slowly but then
accelerates.
• Logistic growth is a
steady decrease in
population growth
with time until
population size
levels off
Exponential and Logistic Growth

Population exceeds carrying capacity of environment; moves or

switches to new resources
Population dynamic
• Biotic potential is the capacity for growth of a population

• Intrinsic rate of increase (r) is the rate at which a

population would grow if it had unlimited resources

• In real world, no population can increase its size

indefinitely

• Biotic potential and environmental resistance determine

the carrying capacity (K) that is the number of
individuals of a species than can be indefinitely
sustained in a given area.
Population density effects
❖Physical or chemical limiting factors, such as light, water, and
nutrients, can affect the number of individuals in a population.

❖Population density can affect population size. In a dense

population, parasites and diseases can spread more easily, and
sexually reproducing individuals can find mates more easily.

❖Environmental resistance: All factors in the environment that

limit the growth of a population
- 4 main types:
• Raw material availability (food, air, water…)
• Energy availability
• Waste accumulation and disposal
• Organism interaction
Population density effects
❖Density-dependent factors : Depend on how many
organisms are in an area. The size of a population
determines if factor will cause the population to
growth or decrease. An individual chance of surviving
depends on the number of individual in the same are
❖Density-independent factors: affect all population in
similar ways regardless of size. The population
reduces by the same proportion no matter what size
the population is.
Examples
Density dependent or independent?

❖Will small and large population be affected the same way?

• Competition

• Food shortage

• Disease

• Human activities

• Predation

• Natural disasters
Examples
Density dependent or independent?

❖Will small and large population be affected the same way?

• Competition (DD)

• Food shortage (DD)

• Disease (DD)

• Human activities (DI)

• Predation (DD)

• Natural disasters (DI)

Reproductive patterns
❖r-selected species (opportunists) : with a capacity
for a high rate of population increase.

• large number of offspring, low parental care,

massive lose of offspring

❖K-selected species (competitors) :

• Small number of offspring. High parental care,

mature slowly
Reproductive patterns
Population crash
❖When a population exceeds its carrying capacity its
population can crash

❖A population crash, or sharp decline in size, can occur

when a population uses up its resources and exceeds
the carrying capacity of their environment.

❖Population crashes occur because of a reproductive

time lag, the period needed for the birth rate to fall and
the death rate to rise in response to resource
overconsumption.

❖Population crashes are more likely when the organisms

cannot switch to new resources or move to other
locations.
Population crash
Exponential growth, overshoot, and population crash of
reindeer introduced onto St. Paul.
Living systems are sustained through
constant change
❖ Living systems contain complex processes that interact
to provide some degree of sustainability. This capacity
to withstand external stress and disturbance is
maintained by change in response to changing
environmental conditions.

❖ One aspect of stability is inertia, or persistence, which

is the ability of a living system to survive moderate
disturbances.

❖ A second aspect of stability is resilience, which is the

ability of a living system to be restored through
secondary succession after a more severe disturbance.
Living systems are sustained through
constant change
❖ Some ecosystems have both these aspect and some
others have only 1 of these properties.

❖ Example: Tropical rain forest have high inertia and thus

are resistant to significant change or destruction. But with
severely damaged, that the forest may reach an
ecological tipping point, the resilience of the degraded
ecosystem may be low. It may not be restored by
secondary ecological succession. By contrast, grasslands
are much less diverse than most forests, and
consequently they have low inertia. But these ecosystems
have high resilience and can recover quickly.
Content

• Section 5-1: How do species interact?

• Section 5-2: What limits the growth of populations?

• Section 5-3: How do communities and ecosystems

respond to changing environmental conditions?