Interspecific

Interactions
Exercise 3
MarB 11 (Laboratory)

Honeylene V. Ongy
1st Sem. 2020 – 2021 Lab. Instructor
 Ecological Interactions
• Biological interactions are the effects organisms in
a community have on one another.
• An organism's interactions with its environment are
fundamental to the survival of that organism and
the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole.
• It may involve individuals of the same species or
individuals of different species.
• Interactions need not be direct; individuals may
affect each other indirectly through intermediaries
such as shared resources or common enemies.
Types of Interspecific Interactions
• Neutralism
• Competition
Effects can be:
• Predation
• positive (+)
• Herbivory
• negative (–)
• Mutualisn • no effect (0)
• Symbiosis:
üparasitism
ümutualism
ücommensalism
 Symbiosis
• Symbiosis: “sym” = together, “biosis”= living; close
physical association (e.g., host and internal
symbiont).

• A relationship where two organisms live together

where at least one of the organisms benefits from the
relationship.

• Could be beneficial or parasitic. Symbiosis is the

close interaction between different species of
animals. Interactions vary from one creature living on
another to one creature living inside another.
Interactions categorized by effect:
Interactions Effect on Effect on
Species 1 Species 2
Neutralism 0 0
Competition - -
Commensalism + 0
Amensalism - 0
Mutualism + +
Predation - +
Parasitism - +
Herbivory - +
Neutralism – organisms do not
affect one another
• Neutralism the most common type of interspecific
interaction. Neither population affects the other. Any
interactions that do occur are indirect or incidental.
• Used to describe situations where interactions are
negligible or insignificant.

Example: the tarantulas living in a desert and the cacti

living in a desert
 Competition – organisms inhibit one
another
• Competition occurs when organisms in the same
community seek the same limiting resource. This
resource may be prey, water, light, nutrients, nest
sites, etc.
• Two types:
ü Intraspecific - competition among members of the
same species
ü Interspecific - competition among individuals of
different species

Individuals experience both types of competition, but the

relative importance of the two types of competition varies
from population to population and species to species
 Types of Competition
• Exploitation competition
• consumption and
depletion of resources
• indirect Green Anole and Brown Anole (an
introduced species) compete for habitat
and food.

• Interference competition
• direct aggressive
interaction between
individuals
• direct
Easily avoiding a fight can mean life or
death for elephant seals.

Competition – similar requirements = similar niches

Outcomes of Competition
1. Exclusion - replacement of one species by other
that has a competitive advantage
2. Character displacement - modification of the
interacting species by selective adaptation
(whereby competition is minimized by small
behavioral differences, e.g. in feeding patterns)

ü Character displacement is
thought to be an evolutionary
response to interspecific
competition.

Competition is reduced when

two species become more
different.
Outcomes of Competition
3. Resource partitioning – differentiation of
ecological niches; enables similar species to
coexist in a community but with a decrease in
their potential for growth
Resource partitioning obviates competitive exclusion,
allowing the coexistence of several species using the same
limiting resource.
 Outcomes of Competition

• Results in decrease in:

ü Survivorship, Growth,

Reproduction

• Ultimately affects:
ü Distribution and Evolution
 Amensalism - A unaffected; B
inhibited
• One organism is inhibited or destroyed while the
other organism remains unaffected.
• This is commonly the effect when one species
produces a chemical compound (as part of its
normal metabolic reactions) that is harmful to the
other species.

Allelopathy, in which some plants produce chemical compounds

that inhibit the growth of nearby would-be competitors, is one
type of amensalistic interaction. These secondary substances are
chemicals produced by plants that seen to have no direct use in
metabolism. Results in reduced seed germination and plant
growth
In antibiosis, one organism secretes a
chemical that kills the other organism,
while the one that secreted the
chemical is unharmed.

For example, the Black Walnut Tree

(Juglans nigra) produces compounds
(juglone) in its roots that inhibit the
growth of other trees and shrubs.

Another famous (and useful) example is

the production
of penicillin by Penicillium notatum.
This antibiotic compound inhibits the
growth of many species of bacteria (in
this picture, it's Staphylococcus aureus)
by interfering with the normal formation
of peptidoglycan in the cell wall.
 Commensalism
One species benefits and the other is
unaffected.
Types of Commensalism:
• Chemical commensalism – one species feeding on the
chemicals produced or the waste products that are not
used by the other.
• Inquilinism – involves one species using the body or a
body cavity of another organism as a platform or a living
space while the host organism neither benefits nor is
harmed.
• Metabiosis - a form of commensalism that occurs when
one species unintentionally creates a home for another
species through one of its normal life activities.
• A phoresy takes place when one organism attaches to
another organism specifically for the purpose of gaining
transportation.
Barnacle and whale (inquilinism)
Seeds on the fur of animals (phoresy)

Monarch and milkweed hermit crab recycle shell of a mollusk

(chemical commensalism) (metabiosis)
 Cattle Egret: As large grazers move
through the grass, they stir up
insects. Cattle Egrets follow them and
get a banquet. The large grazers are
neither helped nor harmed by the
presence of the birds.

Epiphytes: plants that grow on another

plant upon which it depends for
mechanical support but not for
nutrients.

whale and barnacles shark and remora

 Mutualism - benefits both members
• Populations of each species grow, survive and/or
reproduce at a higher rate in the presence of the
other species.
• Mutualisms are widespread in nature, and occur
among many different types of organisms.
• Individuals interact physically, or even live within
the body of the other mutualist

Egyptian plover takes

insects/leeches and food that is
stuck in the crocodiles teeth.
 Facultative vs. Obligate Mutualisms
• Facultative Mutualisms (optional): not essential for
the survival of either species. Individuals of each
species engage in mutualism when the other species is
present. Ex. ants and aphids
• Obligate mutualisms (must): essential for the survival
of one or both species. Ex. lichen, termites

Termites and
Ant tending an aphid their protist
Lichens are a fungal-algal
symbiosis (that frequently includes
a third member, a
cyanobacterium.) The mass of
fungal hyphae provides a protected
habitat for the algae, and takes up
water and nutrients for the algae.
In return, the algae (and
cynaobacteria) provide
carbohydrates as a source of
energy for the fungus.
 Other Examples of Mutualisms

• Flowering plants and

pollinators. (both facultative
and obligate)
• Fig and wasp (facultative)
• Corals and zooxanthellae
(obligate)
• Humans and domestic
animals. (mostly facultative,
some obligate)
• Plant roots and Mychorrhizae
(facultative)
Bee pollinating a flower at
VSU Eco park
 Predation, Parasitism,
Herbivory
(-, +)
• Predators, parasites, parasitoids, and
herbivores obtain food at the expense of
their hosts or prey.
Predation - predator (A) kills and consumes
prey (B)
• Predation has driven the evolution of some truly amazing
phenomena, such as crypsis (camouflaging coloration),
aposematism (warning coloration), mimicry, and other
ways animals avoid being eaten.
• Predators tend to be larger than their prey, and consume
many prey during their lifetimes.

The predator species (the Lion

(Panthera leo)) kills and
consumes the prey species (in
this case, a Cape Buffalo
(Syncerus caffer).
Parasitism - parasite (A) exploits the host
(B), but does not kill it outright
• Parasites and pathogens are smaller than their
host.
• Parasites may have one or many hosts during their
lifetime. Pathogens are parasitic microbes-many
generations may live within the same host.
• Parasites consume their host either from the inside
(endoparasites) or from the outside (ectoparasites).

Aphids are a type of insect

parasite that feed on the
sap of the host plant.
 Parasitic Plants

Dodder Rafflesia
 Parasitism (+, -)
§ some parasites change the behavior of the host to
increase their own fitness (reproduce more
offspring)
This parasite invades the
eyestalks of snails and make
then swollen, pulsating and
colorful in order to attract
birds. The birds rip out the
eyestalks and eat them. Then
the eggs of the parasite
develop in the stomach of the
bird and are released in
droppings. The snail can
regenerate the eyestalk, but
unfortunately, the new one Snail with its eye stalks parasitized
also is infected.
by Leucochloridium paradoxum
(trematode) 26
Herbivory - act of eating plants or plant-
like organisms
§ Herbivores are animals that eat plants. This
interaction may resemble predation, or
parasitism.
§ Herbivores have complex digestive systems that
predators so they can tease apart plant tissues
and extract the nutrition inside.
Predator-Prey and Parasite-Host
Coevolution
• The relationships between predator
and prey, and parasites and hosts,
have coevolved over long periods
of time.

Cheetah hunting a Thomson’s gazelle

in Kenya.