Year 11 Pre-Diploma Biology

INTER-SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS Information and Worksheet

This is a review of and worksheet about inter-specific relationships amongst organisms. These are relationships between different
species. You should be able to give named examples of inter-specific relationships under the following definitions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
Competition
Neutralism
Predation

You will need to name (and maybe briefly describe) each of the two species involved in the relationship and, by means of a simple
chart for eaczh relationship, show whether the relationship is 0, + or for each of the species involved.

This is from the syllabus guide in the Course Handbook:

6.4.
6

Biotic factors

What are the more important

List the more important biotic factors of

biological relationships in eco-

ecosystems, incl. inter- and intra- specific

systems?

competition, grazing, predation and parasitism

and mutualism and understand how they may
impact on an ecosystem. Describe specific
examples.

ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE E (Knowledge and Understanding)

This homework will not be assessed as a research investigation. It will be assessed in the form of a short test on Wednesday 26 th March. You should be able to
give named examples, as well as definitions of the different relationships.

Interspecific interactions are interactions among organisms of different species. Typically, these interactions are classified based on whether they are beneficial to one
or both of the species involved or whether they are detrimental to one of the species involved. An organisms niche is its functional role within the community,
including its activities and relationships, its address, its job or function within the community, and how it relates to other organisms. The niche of each species is a
little different to avoid competition. Different species, even closely-related ones, will have different food preferences, seasonality, daily feeding rhythms, and location
within the habitat. For some species of katydids within the same genus, the difference may be as subtle as a preference for perching on the top vs the middle of a stem
on a grass plant.

Types of Relationships
Symbiosis
Any relationship that involves two (or more) species living together and interacting. This is a general term
which includes predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, etc., but often is used to
mean mutualism.
Predation
When a larger animal eats other, smaller animals. Lions may eat antelope, and wolves may
eat deer. Spiders, like this orbweaver, capture and eat insects such as the cricket shes
eating.
Symbiotic relationships
Commensalism
A relationship between two species that is beneficial to one but of neutral benefit to the other. Cattle
egrets follow cattle to feed on the insects stirred up by the grazing cattle. (Might there be a benefit for the
cattle?)

Mutualism
A relationship between two species where both benefit. The yucca moth both pollinates and feeds on
the yucca plant; acacia ants live in the thorns of, defend, and are fed by the acacia tree in which they
live; and trees cant get along without mycorrhizae living in/on their roots and absorbing food for
them. Many plants and their pollinators have evolved mutualistic relationships. Butterfly-weed
provides food for and is pollinated by butterflies like pipevine swallowtails.

Parasitic relationships
Parasitism
When a smaller organism feeds on a larger, weakening or killing it. This is a relationship where one
organism benefits and the other is harmed. Often the host is not killed outright. Because a parasite lives
in/on the body of its host and needs the host to remain alive, it is usually advantageous for the parasite
to not kill its host. Humans and domestic animals are occasionally infected with or bothered by
tapeworms and roundworms (endoparasites) and mosquitoes and leeches (ectoparasites).
Parasitoid
A parasite that eventually causes the death of its host. By the time the parasitoid undergoes metamorphosis, all of the hosts
innards have been eaten. Often, insect larvae that are parasitoids of other insects eat the hosts tissues, timing things such that
just as theyre ready to pupate, they have eaten up the whole insides of their host, and it dies. Braconid wasps do this to
tomato hornworms, and this hornworm, covered with cocoons of pupating braconids, probably has almost no body parts left
inside. If you see a caterpillar like this on your tomato plants, leave it alone. The wasps will eventually hatch, mate, and lay
eggs in any other tomato hornworms they can find a good means of biological control.

Definition:
Symbiosis is a close ecological relationship between the individuals of two (or more) different species. Sometimes a
symbiotic relationship benefits both species, sometimes one species benefits at the other's expense, and in other cases neither
species benefits.
Ecologists use a different term for each type of symbiotic relationship:
Mutualism
-- both species benefit
Commensalism
-- one species benefits, the other is unaffected
Parasitism
-- one species benefits, the other is harmed
Competition
-- neither species benefits
Neutralism
-- both species are unaffected
The following table illustrates the correct use of these terms in interactions between Species "A" and Species "B".
"+" denotes benefit to the species
"0" denotes no positive or negative effect
"-" denotes an undesirable effect of the interaction.

Parasitism

Commensalism

Mutualism

Neutralism

Commensalism

0
Species "A"
Competition

Parasitism

0
Species "B"