ECOLOGICAL REALATIONSHIP

> Competition- Happens when organisms of the same or different species attempt to use an ecological resource
in the same place at the same time.
> Competitive Exclusion- Plants compete for water, light, minerals, and carbon dioxide.
> Predation- An interaction where one organism capture and feeds on another organism.
*Predator- refers to the organisms that kills and consumes.
*Prey- is an organism turns into someone’s dine.
> Symbiosis- refers to any relationship in which two species live closely together. Species always live togetherin
communities, but some species interact in a much more intimate way.

3 TYPES OF DIRECT INTERACTIONS

MUTUALISM- is a type of relationship between the host and the symbiont, where both organism benefit and no one
is
harmed.
Examples of Mutualism:
1. Pollination- where pollen grains remove from an anther, the male component of a flower, and transferred to
the stigma, the female component.
2. Dispersal Mutualism- one partner receives food in return for helping flower in transferring their pollen
Ex. Honeybees and plants.
3. Cleaning Mutualism- which mutualistic partner removes parasites, in return receiving a steady supply of
food.
Ex. Birds eats parasite from outside of large herbivore carabao.
4. Defense Mutualism- one species gets food and/or shelter from another species. The other gets protection.
Ex. Acacia tree and ant.
Importance Of Mutualism:
1. Ecosystem health
2. Biodiversity
3. Nutrients Cycling
4. Species survival
5. Human agriculture
6. Evolutionary processes
7. Ecosystem Services
PARASITISM- if one organism lives in or on another organism obtaining from its host part of all of its nutritional
needs.
“2 types of parasitism”
Ectoparasites: Endoparasites:
-Lice -Bedbugs - Tapeworms
-Flesa -Mites - Malaria Parasites
-Ticks - Roundworms
 Parasites damage their host in 2 ways: consuming tissues. Hookworms liberating toxins.
Parasitism in Plants
- is a relationship where one plant (parasite) receives all or a portion of its nutrients from another plant (host)
without giving the host any benefits and even causing extreme damage to the host.
 FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS: ENERGY TRANSFER
Food Chains and Food Web
Food chain: is a series of steps in which organism transfer energy by eating and being eaten.
 Producer- they can onlye manufacture food from inorganic raw materials.
 Primary Consumers (herbivore) - organisms that eat the producers.
 Secondary Consumer (carnivore) - organisms that eat primary consumers.
 Tertiary Consumers (omnivores) – animals that eat other animals
Food web: is a complex patter of interconnected food chains in a community
COMPONENTS
 Trophic level- level of nutrition or link in food chain
-Producers: occupies the first level in the food chain
-Heterotrophic: “hetero” means “other”. Trophic means “nourishment”
-Lichen: symbiotic relationship among 2 organisms the FUNGUS/HETEROTROPHIC MYCOBIONT and
ALGA/AUTOTROPHIC.
 Primary consumers- occupies the second trophic level food chain
-Herbivores
-Granivores
- Omnivores
- Insectivores
- Carnivores
 Secondary consumers- occupies the third level organism that feed on the primary consumers or herbivores.
- Predator: an animal that feeds and kills upon another animal.
- Prey: an animal that feeds hunted and killed by another animal.
 Tertiary Consumers- an organism that kill and eat the smaller carnivores and herbivores.
 Decomposers- organism of the 5th trophic level that decompose the dead species or organism of lower
trophic levels.
Feeding Relationships
Pyramid of energy: energy that is originally stored by the autotrophic plants is dissipated along the food chain
“Feeding relationships in ecosystem”
-Trophic level - Food web - pyramid of numbers
- Food chain - Pyramid of biomass
Pyramid of mass numbers: the mass (weight) and numbers of organism decreases along a food chain.
- A pyramid of numbers. Shows the total number individual organism at each level in the food chain.
“Types of pyramid of numbers”
- upright pyramid of number Pyramid of biomass: is a diagram showing the total mass of all organism
- Partly Upright pyramid of numbers found in each trophic level.
- The Inverted pyramid of number
Biomass: refers to the total mass of all living things or organic matter
that inhabit an ecosystem at any given point of time.
Percentage decrease at each trophic level “ 2 main different types of biomass”
Formula: (1st level – 2nd level) X 100 - Species biomass
1st level - Community biomass

EFFICIENCY = GAIN IN BIOMASS X 100

TOTAL BIOMASS INTAKE
 ENVIRONMENTAL CYCLES AND PROCESSES
Biogeochemical Cycles
- refers to the overall chemical cycles through both biological and geological world.
Biological – relating to biology or to life and living things
Geological – relating to geology, or to the geology of a particular area or place.
> 2 parts of Biogeochemical Cycle<
1. Reservoirs – are those parts of the cycle where chemical is held in large quantities for long period of time.
2. Exchange pools – the chemical is held for only a short time.
Water Cycle – also known as the Hydrologic Cycle, a cycle that involves the continuous circulations of water in the
earth atmosphere system.
THE PROCESS: Evaporation – is the process where water at the surface turns into water vapor.
Transpiration – is a process similar to evaporation into water vapor by the plants.
“Stomata- are small, microscopic openings or pores found primarily on surface of plant leaves.”
Condensation – is the process by which water vapor changes its physical states from a vapor, most
commonly to liquid.
Precipitation – is the process that occurs when any all forms of water fall from the atmosphere and reach
the ground.
Interception – is the process of interrupting the movement of water in the chain of transportation events
leading to streams.
Infiltration – is the physical process involving movement of water through the boundary area where the
atmosphere interfaces with the soil.
Percolation – is the movement of water through the soil, and its layer by the gravity and capillary forces.
Runoff – is flow from a drainage basin or watershed that appears in surface streams.
Storage – is where water in the system resides or “rest” as it mores from one water reservoirs to another.
Carbon Cycle – movement of carbon, in its many forms, between the biosphere,atmosphere, oceans and geosphere
Respiration – takes carbohydrates and oxygen and combines them to produce carbon dioxide, water, and
energy.
Photosynthesis – takes carbon and water and produces carbohydrates and oxygen.
Oxygen Cycle – is present in carbon dioxide, it is also present in carbohydrates in water, and as a molecule of
2 oxygen atoms.
-- All of the oxygen in atmosphere is biogenic
Oxygen in water – also known as dissolved oxygen or “DO”.
- When the water in a streams enters a pond, microorganisms in the pond begin to metabolize
(break down) organic matter consuming oxygen in the process
Oxygen uptake rate (O.U.R) – is the rate at which oxygen is consumed by living organisms in the water.
Nitrogen Cycle – is the process by which the nitrogen is converted into nitrogen compounds through the
atmosphere, soil and organisms.
Atmosphere – is the chief reservoir of nitrogen, which is about 78% nitrogen.
THE PROCESS: 1.Nitrogen Fixation 3.Assimilation
- Atmosphere 4.Ammonification
- Soil 5.Dentrification
2.Ntrification
Phosphorous Cycle – is the simplest of the cycle.
Phosphate – is the only one form of Phosphorous cycle which is a phosphorous atom with 4 oxygen
atom