Plant & Animal Interactions Flashcards
What are ecological communities
collections of populations in a given area that potentially interact
What is a Habitat
the physical surroundings in which species is normally found - “address”
What is a Niche?
mode of living and resource acquisition for a given organism - “occupation”w
How do community members interact with niches and habitats?
Community members occupy distinct niches within the same habitat
What are interspecific interactions?
Relationships with other species in the community?
What is Interspecific competition?
Two different species compete for the same limited resource
Where does a competition for resource occur?
Occurs in closely related species - when occupying niches start to overlap
What is a niche comprised of?
the habitat where it lives
organism activity pattern
resources it obtains from habitat
What is Predation?
one freestanding organism feeding on parts or all of a second organism
why are predator-prey relationships complex?
the populations are linked
What is Parasitism
A predator that feeds on a prey but does not immediately kill it
Why is competition positive?
Competition drives evolutionary change and remarkable adaptations
What is herbivory?
interaction in which a plant or portions of the plant are consumed by an animal
What are some common herbivores?
Browsers and grazers
What is pollination?
transfer of pollen from one flower to the stigma of another
what are three ways seeds are dispersed?
wind
water
animals
What are the two ways animals may help in distributing seeds?
Ingestion
“hitch-hiking”
What is Mutualism?
obligate interation between organisms the requires contributions from both organisms and in which both benefit
Why are Fig trees and fig wasps an example of obligate mutualism
neither can live without the other; tree relies on wasps for pollen dispersal and wasps can only reproduce in the florets of a fig fruit
What are 9 plant defeneses?
thorns
Prickles
Spines
Trichomes
Idioblasts
Mutualism
Crypsis
Chemical signals
Poison
How to Parasitic plants function?
attach and feed off other plants using parasitic structure
