MILLER/SPOOLMAN

LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT 17TH

Chapter 5
Biodiversity, Species
Interactions, and Population
Control
 Species Interact in Five Major Ways
• Interspecific Competition

• Predation

• Parasitism

• Mutualism

• Commensalism
 Most Species Compete with One
Another for Certain Resources
• For limited resources

• Ecological niche for exploiting resources

• Some niches overlap

 Some Species Evolve Ways to Share
Resources
• Resource partitioning
• Using only parts of resource

• Using at different times

• Using in different ways

 Resource Partitioning Among Warblers

Figure 5.2: Saring the hwealth: This diagram illustrates resource partitioning among five species of
insect-eating warblers in the spruce forests of the U.S. state of Maine. Each species minimizes
competition with the others for food by spending at least half its feeding time in a distinct portion
(yellow highlighted areas) of the spruce trees, and by consuming somewhat different insect species.
(After R. H. MacArthur, “Population Ecology of Some Warblers in Northeastern Coniferous Forests,”
Ecology 36 (1958): 533–536.)
Fig. 5-2, p. 106
Specialist Species of Honeycreepers

Figure 5.3: Specialist

species of honeycreepers:
Through natural
selection, different
species of honeycreepers
developed specialized
ecological niches that
reduced competition
between these species.
Each species has evolved
a specialized beak to take
advantage of certain
types of food resources.

Fig. 5-3, p. 107

 Most Consumer Species Feed on Live
Organisms of Other Species
• Prey may avoid capture by
1. Run, swim, fly
2. Protection: shells, bark, thorns
3. Camouflage
4. Chemical warfare
5. Warning coloration
6. Mimicry
7. Deceptive looks
8. Deceptive behavior
 camouflage

(a) Span worm

Fig. 5-5a, p. 109
 camouflage

(b) Wandering leaf insect

Fig. 5-5b, p. 109
 chemical
warfare

(c) Bombardier beetle

Fig. 5-5c, p. 109
 chemical
warfare

(d) Foul-tasting monarch butterfly

Fig. 5-5d, p. 109

 warning
coloration

(e) Poison dart frog

Fig. 5-5e, p. 109
 warning
coloration

(f) Viceroy butterfly mimics monarch

butterfly
Fig. 5-5f, p. 109
 mimicry

(g) Hind wings of Io moth resemble

eyes of a much larger animal.

Fig. 5-5g, p. 109

 mimicry

(h) When touched, snake

caterpillar changes shape to look
like head of snake.
Fig. 5-5h, p. 109
 Predator and Prey Interactions Can
Drive Each Other’s Evolution
• Intense natural selection pressures between
predator and prey populations

• Coevolution
• Interact over a long period of time
• Bats and moths: echolocation of bats and sensitive
hearing of moths
Coevolution: A Langohrfledermaus
Bat Hunting a Moth

Fig. 5-6, p. 110

 Some Species Feed off Other Species
by Living on or in Them
• Parasitism

• Parasite is usually much smaller than the host

• Parasite rarely kills the host

• Parasite-host interaction may lead to coevolution

Parasitism: Trout with Blood-Sucking Sea Lamprey

Fig. 5-7, p. 110

 In Some Interactions, Both Species
Benefit
• Mutualism

• Nutrition and protection relationship

• Gut inhabitant mutualism

• Not cooperation: it’s mutual exploitation

Mutualism: Hummingbird and Flower

Figure 5.8:
Mutualism: This
hummingbird
benefits by feeding
on nectar in this
flower, and it
benefits the flower
by pollinating it.

Fig. 5-8, p. 110

 Mutualism: Oxpeckers Clean Rhinoceros; Anemones
Protect and Feed Clownfish

Figure 5.9: Examples of mutualism: (a) Oxpeckers (or tickbirds) feed on parasitic ticks
that infest large, thick-skinned animals such as the endangered black rhinoceros. (b) A
clownfish gains protection and food by living among deadly, stinging sea anemones
and helps to protect the anemones from some of their predators.
Fig. 5-9, p. 111
In Some Interactions, One Species Benefits
and the Other Is Not Harmed
• Commensalism

• Epiphytes

• Birds nesting in trees

 5-2 What Limits the Growth of
Populations?
• Concept 5-2 No population can continue to grow
indefinitely because of limitations on resources and
because of competition among species for those
resources.
 Most Populations Live Together in
Clumps or Patches
• Population: group of interbreeding individuals of the
same species
• Population distribution
1. Clumping
2. Uniform dispersion
3. Random dispersion
 Most Populations Live Together in
Clumps or Patches
• Why clumping?
1. Species tend to cluster
where resources are
available
2. Groups have a better
chance of finding
clumped resources
3. Protects some animals
from predators
4. Packs allow some to get
prey
 Populations Can Grow, Shrink, or
Remain Stable
• Population size governed by • Age structure
• Births • Pre-reproductive
• Deaths age
• Immigration • Reproductive age
• Emigration • Post-reproductive
age

Population change =
(births + immigration) – (deaths + emigration)
 Some Factors Can Limit Population
Size
• Range of tolerance
• Variations in physical and chemical environment
• Limiting factor principle
• Too much or too little of any physical or chemical factor can
limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other
factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance
• Precipitation
• Nutrients
• Sunlight, etc
• Exposure to too many competitors, predators or infectious
diseases
 Trout Tolerance of Temperature

Figure 5.13: This diagram illustrates the range of tolerance for a population of organisms, such as trout, to
a physical environmental factor—in this case, water temperature. Range of tolerance restrictions prevent
particular species from taking over an ecosystem by keeping their population size in check. Question: For
humans, what is an example of a range of tolerance for a physical environmental factor?
Fig. 5-13, p. 113
No Population Can Grow Indefinitely:
J-Curves and S-Curves
• Environmental • Exponential growth
resistance • Starts slowly, then
• All factors that act to accelerates to carrying
limit the growth of a capacity when meets
population environmental
resistance

• Carrying capacity (K) • Logistic growth

• Maximum population a • Decreased population
given habitat can sustain growth rate as
population size reaches
carrying capacity
 No Population Can Grow Indefinitely:
J-Curves and S-Curves

• When a Population Exceeds Its Habitat’s Carrying

Capacity, Its Population Can Crash
Exponential Growth, Overshoot, and
Population Crash of a Reindeer
Figure 5.17: This graph tracks
the exponential growth,
overshoot, and population
crash of reindeer introduced
onto the small Bering Sea
island of St. Paul. When 26
reindeer (24 of them female)
were introduced in 1910,
lichens, mosses, and other
food sources were plentiful. By
1935, the herd size had soared
to 2,000, overshooting the
island’s carrying capacity. This
led to a population crash,
when the herd size plummeted
to only 8 reindeer by 1950.
Question: Why do you think
the sizes of some populations
level off while others such as
the reindeer in this example
exceed their carrying
capacities and crash?

Fig. 5-17, p. 116

Species Have Different Reproductive
Patterns
MAJORITY MINORITY
• Many, usually small, • Reproduce later in life
offspring • Small number of offspring
• Little or no parental care with long life spans
• Massive deaths of • Young offspring grow inside
mother
offspring
• Long time to maturity
• Insects, bacteria, algae
• Protected by parents, and
potentially groups
• Humans
• Elephants
Under Some Circumstances Population
Density Affects Population Size
•DENSITY DEPENDENT population
Density-dependent DENSITY INDEPENDENT
controls
• FACTORS FACTORS
Predation
• Parasitism
• Infectious disease
• Competition for resources
 Population Cycles for the Snowshoe Hare and
Canada Lynx

Figure 5.18: This graph represents the population cycles for the snowshoe hare and the Canadian lynx.
At one time, scientists believed these curves provided evidence that these predator and prey
populations regulated one another. More recent research suggests that the periodic swings in the hare
population are caused by a combination of top-down population control—through predation by lynx
and other predators—and bottom-up population control, in which changes in the availability of the food
supply for hares help to determine their population size, which in turn helps to determine the lynx
population size. (Data from D. A. MacLulich)
Fig. 5-18, p. 118
 Humans Are Not Exempt from
Nature’s Population Controls
BUBONIC PLAGUE:
•1st Outbreak – “Plague of Justinian” 542 AD, Eastern
Roman Empire
• Resulted in an estimated 25-50 million deaths over 2
centuries
•2nd Outbreak – “The Black Death” ~1347-early 1400’s
• Resulted in the death of nearly a third of the human
population of Europe and Asia
• Last major outbreak in Europe 1813-1814
• 3rd Outbreak:
• 1855-1925
• Like the other 2 outbreaks, the plague originated in
(or near) China, moved to India, the Hawaiian Islands
and Australia
• Resulted in an estimated 14 million deaths

• The WHO declared the pandemic active until 1959

when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year
MALARIA:
•The parasite responsible for malaria, P. falciparum,  has been in
existence for 50,000–100,000 years however, the population size of
the parasite did not increase until about 10,000 years ago,
concurrently with advances in agriculture
•WHO estimates that in 2015 there were 214 million new cases of
malaria worldwide, resulting in 438,000 deaths.
•Malaria has been so pervasive that it has driven the process of
natural selection in multiple populations of Homo sapiens sapiens to
include the allele for Sickle Cell Trait
POTATO BLIGHT:
•Caused the Irish Potato Famine, 1845-1849
•Resulted in the death of ~1 million and the emigration of
an estimated 2-3 million, mostly to the New World
H1N1:
• Spanish Flu Pandemic: 1918 (came in 2 waves/the 2 nd
deadlier than the 1st)
• Swine Flu Pandemic: 2009-10
• The Americas hardest hit; current data suggest upwards of
405,000 died worldwide, either directly or from
complications
 HIV/AIDS:
1st case described in a diagnosis from 1959
First US case appears to have been in 1969
First clinical case in US in 1971
Originally people believed that only certain people were at risk for
AIDS. Media named them the “four-H club:”
•hemophiliacs, who received contaminated blood transfusions
•homosexual men, who reported higher incidences of the disease
•heroin users, and people who used drugs via injection
•Haitian origin, many cases of AIDS were reported in Haiti
• By 1978 it was estimated to be in ~5% of the US
homosexual male population
• President Ronald Regan says the word “AIDS” in
public for the first time in September 1985;
cumulative known deaths in the US…. 16,301
• It is estimated that by 1990, in the US alone,
600-900 thousand people were infected with HIV
 How Do Communities and Ecosystems
Respond to Changing Environmental
Conditions?
• Concept 5-3 The structure and species composition
of communities and ecosystems change in response
to changing environmental conditions through a
process called ecological succession. This can be
either primary or secondary succession
 Some Ecosystems Start from Scratch:
Primary Succession
• No soil in a terrestrial system

• No bottom sediment in an aquatic system

• Takes hundreds to thousands of years

• Need to build up soils/sediments to provide

necessary nutrients
 Primary Ecological Succession

Figure 5.19: Primary ecological succession: Over almost a thousand years, these plant communities
developed, starting on bare rock exposed by a retreating glacier on Isle Royal, Michigan (USA) in northern
Lake Superior. The details of this process vary from one site to another. Question: What are two ways in
which lichens, mosses, and plants might get started growing on bare rock?
Fig. 5-19, p. 119
Some Ecosystems Do Not Have to Start from
Scratch: Secondary Succession
• Some soil remains in a terrestrial system

• Some bottom sediment remains in an aquatic system

• Ecosystem has been

• Disturbed
• Removed
• Destroyed
 Natural Ecological Restoration of Disturbed Land

Figure 5.20: Natural ecological restoration of disturbed land: This diagram shows the undisturbed secondary ecological succession of plant
communities on an abandoned farm field in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It took 150–200 years after the farmland was abandoned for the
area to become covered with a mature oak and hickory forest. A new disturbance such as deforestation or fire would create conditions favoring
pioneer species such as annual weeds. In the absence of new disturbances, secondary succession would recur over time, but not necessarily in
the same sequence shown here. See an animation based on this figure at CengageNOW. Questions: Do you think the annual weeds (left) would
continue to thrive in the mature forest (right)? Why or why not?
Fig. 5-20, p. 120
Secondary Ecological Succession in Yellowstone Following
the 1998 Fire

Figure 5.21: These young lodgepole pines growing around standing dead trees after a
1998 forest fire in Yellowstone National Park are an example of secondary ecological
succession.
Fig. 5-21, p. 120
Some Ecosystems Do Not Have to Start from
Scratch: Secondary Succession
• Primary and secondary succession
• Tend to increase biodiversity
• Increase species richness and interactions among species

• Primary and secondary succession can be interrupted by

• Fires
• Hurricanes
• Clear-cutting of forests
• Plowing of grasslands
• Invasion by nonnative species
 Succession Doesn’t Follow a
Predictable Path
• Traditional view
• Balance of nature and a climax community

• Current view
• Ever-changing mosaic of patches of vegetation
• Mature late-successional ecosystems
• State of continual disturbance and change
 Living Systems Are Sustained through
Constant Change
• Inertia, persistence
• Ability of a living system to survive moderate
disturbances

• Resilience
• Ability of a living system to be restored through
secondary succession after a moderate disturbance

• Some systems have one property, but not the other:

tropical rainforests
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