Question

Match the following species interactions with their definition:

1) Predation
2) Parasitism
3) Commensalism
4) Competition
5) Mutualism

Answer 1

Species interactions like predation, parasitism, commensalism, competition, and mutualism are defined by the relationship between two organisms and the impact they have on each other. Examples include a lion hunting a zebra (predation), tapeworms in mammals (parasitism), and bees pollinating flowers (mutualism).

Step-by-step explanation:

Species Interactions and Their Definitions

We can match the following species interactions with their definitions:

1. Predation: An interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, the prey. An example of predation would be a lion hunting a zebra.
2. Parasitism: A relationship where one organism, the parasite, lives on or in a host organism and causes harm to it. An example of parasitism is a tapeworm living in the intestines of a mammal.
3. Commensalism: An interaction where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. The relationship between cattle egrets and grazing mammals is an example of commensalism; the birds eat insects stirred up by the grazing animals.
4. Competition: An interaction where organisms compete for the same resources in an ecosystem, such as food or living space. An example is two plants competing for sunlight.
5. Mutualism: A type of symbiosis where both species benefit from the interaction. An example of mutualism is the relationship between bees and flowers; bees get nectar for food while pollinating flowers.

The competitive exclusion principle states that two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist at constant population values if other ecological factors remain constant.

Predators and prey can influence each other's evolution through predator-prey dynamics, where adaptations in one can lead to counter-adaptations in the other, a process known as coevolution.

Interspecific competition can result in decreased resource availability for both species involved or could lead to the exclusion of one species from the ecosystem if the other is more efficient at resource utilization.

It is false that in a symbiotic relationship, the two species have to physically touch each other; some symbiotic relationships involve indirect interactions.

It is also false that the relationship between the protists that cause human malaria and humans is commensalism; it is an example of parasitism.