Interspecific and Intraspecific Relationships

Question 1

what is a territory

Answer 1

a territory is an area where an animal lives and the area that it defends from other animals

Question 2

how do animals defend their territories and what is an example of this

Answer 2

by guarding at the boundary of the territory, and example of this is when meerkats stand guard as lookouts on a high rock at the boundary of their territory

Question 3

what is a home range and how does it differ to a territory

Answer 3

the home range is the area where an animal will search for food and water that it cannot find in its territory, it is not defended so the animals are vulnerable to predators

Question 4

what is a lek and what is the purpose

Answer 4

a lek is an area where males usually come together and perform mating displays, often competitively, to attract mates for the purpose of breeding

Question 5

what is are the advantages and disadvantages of a lek

Answer 5

the advantage of this is that it becomes a hot spot for breeding, increasing the success of mating, the disadvantage of this is that the animals are vulnerable to predators

Question 6

what is an ecological niche and what does it include

Answer 6

an ecological niche is the physical, biological conditions or factors a population faces in its habitat, this includes the animal’s food source, predators, reproduction, interaction, survival etc

Question 7

What is Gause’s Law

Answer 7

it basically says that no two species can co-exist with the same ecological niche, i.e if you have two species with the same predators, prey, food etc, the animals will compete, eventually one will dominate over the other causing the other to either become extinct or undergo a change in ecological niche. overall two species with the same ecological niche cannot co-exist indefinitely

Question 8

what are INTRAspecific relationships and the qualities involved

Answer 8

intraspecific relationships are interactions between animals of the SAME species. since both species have the same ecological niche there is often competition over food and things. the animals often live together in close groups

Question 9

what are some consequences of intraspecific relationships

Answer 9

aggressive behaviour, fighting, death and injuries

Question 10

what are some advantages and disadvantages of intraspecific relationships

Answer 10

advantages are that there are a lot of animals to fight off predators, they can help each other find food and defend territories, being in close groups also brings mates into close proximity
disadvantages are that disease are more common amongst close groups, there will be a lot of competition over food and space, and the large groups are super noticeable to predators.

Question 11

what is a hierarchy

Answer 11

a hierarchy in a population is a ranking system, with the strongest most dominant members on top and the most submissive and weak on the bottom

Question 12

what are the two types hierarchies, give a brief description of both

Answer 12

linear hierarchies and complex hierarchies,
linear hierarchies involve a simple progression from most dominant to most submissive
complex hierarchies are structures that involve different groups such as sub co-ordinate groups, family groups, bonding pairs, labour groups all CONTROLLED by one singular alpha male.

Question 13

why are hierarchies good for animal populations

Answer 13

by establishing a rank, each member knows its place in the hierarchy, which reduces fighting and competition of other resources. submissive members are aware that they have to wait for the dominant to eat first
their positions are recognizable by display as the more dominant have tall broad big statures while the submissive have a weak non-threatening display/look to them
hierarchies can change all the time when new animals are introduced and old ones die out

Question 14

what are some reproductive strategies

Answer 14

animals can either produce loads of offspring with a few surviving and being able to grow up, or they can focus on producing few offspring with most of them surviving and able to grow up. Another strategy is that an animal can mate with one person devoted to them for life (monogamy) , or mate with loads of people not really caring (polygamy).

Question 15

what do their strategies depend on and give and example

Answer 15

the animal and the environment, for example, penguins can have a long term monogamous relationship raising a baby penguin together because it takes a lot of time and energy, whereas there are other animals that don’t need that and so can just impregnant whoever they want whenever. polygamy increases genetic diversity.

Question 16

what is the R strategy

Answer 16

R strategists have a high number of offsprings, the parents do not care for the young, they just hope a few have a chance of survival, the parents spend a low amount of energy per offspring, the survival of the parent is not jeopardised by looking after offspring
MANY OFFSPRING will die from starvation or predators

Question 17

what is the k strategy

Answer 17

k strategists have low numbers of offsprings, the parents spend lots of energy and time on the offspring, protecting them, raising, teaching, preparing and looking after them.
offspring is much more likely to survive.

Question 18

what are the key differences between offsprings of k strategists and r strategists

Answer 18

K BABIES are more helpless and less developed than R BABIES, this is because the R Babies have to learn how to coper on their own whereas the K BABIES have the support and can rely on their parents

Question 19

what is courtship

Answer 19

courtship describes all the different things animals do to attract a mate, most of the time the amle has to attract the female and then the female has to decide whether or not she accepts based on the performance of the male

Question 20

what is a courtship ritual + what are the advantages and disadvantages

Answer 20

courtships rituals can be songs, dances, fights with other males, appearance etc.
the advantage is usually the fittest strongest animals win the females affection, therefore, producing the most suitable offsprings and maintaining a healthy population
the disadvantage is that the males can become competitive and injure one another
another disadvantage these rituals can attract predators

Question 21

what are interspecific relationships

Answer 21

interactions slash relationships between animals of different species

Question 22

what is interspecific competition and the effects

Answer 22

involves different species fighting for shared environment and food, the results in aggressive behaviour as well but this more often leads to death as the species are different not the same

Question 23

what is exploitation

Answer 23

exploitation is the raltionship between two species where one benefits and the other is harmed, i.e one species benefits at the expense of another

Question 24

what is predation

Answer 24

predation is where one animal hunts and feeds on another, the one that gets eaten is harmed and the one that gets to eat benefits

Question 25

what is herbivory

Answer 25

herbivory is a type of predation where an animal species feeds on a plant species, and so the plant species is harmed as the population decreases in size and the animal species benefits

Question 26

what is parasitism and how does it work and what is an example

Answer 26

parasitism involves one organism, the parasite, living on or inside another species, a host, the parasites don’t want to hurt the host, they benefit from them by having a home to reproduce and a supply of food, the host ends up being harmed tho due to lack of resources, an example of this is headlice or tapeworms

Question 27

what is mutualism and what does it involve

Answer 27

mutualism is the relationship between two different species, where both species benefit from one another, they help eachother out, it involves doing jobs or services for eachother, or one species does a job in return for resources

Question 28

what is an example of mutualism

Answer 28

in humans, we have gut bacteria that help us digest food, we provide them with a home and let them snack off food that passes throughout enzymes, in return, we get good digestion and development of the gut immune system

Question 29

what is commensalism

Answer 29

commensalism is the relationship between two different species where one benefits and the other is unaffected, the benefit usually comes from the supply of food, shelter or transport, the person benefitting is usually small and the unaffected one is big

Question 30

what is an example of commensalism

Answer 30

birds feed off insects on the back of large mammals like elephants, in this scenario, the bird benefits by getting food while the elephant barely notices and is unaffected

Question 31

what is mimicry

Answer 31

where one species resembles another in some way, it could be mimicking its appearance, behaviour, sound and even smells

Question 32

what is Batesian mimicry

Answer 32

it is when harmless species mimic dangerous positions ones to keep predators away

Question 33

what is Mullerian mimicry

Answer 33

where two unpalatable species mimic each others warning signs so that when predators comes he will think they are all untasty and won’t touch any of them, but its really more beneficial because it stops the predators from having to try two different species with the end result being that he didn’t even like them anyway, instead the species try to look the same to avoid the predator having to waste their time on them, and so that they can survive obviously.