Question

How do organisms in an ecosystem interact?

Answer 1

There is a large diversity of organisms in an ecosystem ranging from microorganisms to apex predators. These organisms need to interact with each other which may be harmful or beneficial to one individual or both the individuals, or it may not affect either individual.

Complete answer:
- Individual organisms live together in an ecosystem and depend on each other.
- One of the basic interactions arises between the autotrophs or the primary producers that derive energy and nutrition from non-living components, like sunlight and simple chemicals found in the environment, and the heterotrophs or the consumers that consume other organisms for energy and nutrition.
- Some of the consumers are predators. Predators are organisms that hunt and kill other organisms, known as prey.
- The four major types of interactions in the ecosystem are mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, and competition.
- Mutualism is a form of symbiosis where both the organisms mutually benefit from each other. For example, certain bird species eat insects and leftover food off the bodies of animals like buffalos, crocodiles, zebras, etc. The animals can keep themselves clean and the birds derive food easily.
- Commensalism is a symbiotic interaction where one individual derives benefit from the interaction while there is no positive or negative effect on the other organism. For example, tree frogs protect themselves using the leaves of trees and plants, while the plant or tree is not affected in any way.
- Parasitism is a symbiotic interaction where the parasite derives benefit while the host is harmed. For example, tapeworms in living mammals derive all the nutrition from the body while the host is harmed and deprived of nutrition.
- Competition is when two individuals compete for the same resources such as food, mate, shelter, or sunlight. There usually is a ‘winner’ and ‘loser’. If the competitors fight for the resource, they both may die. An example is coral species on reefs competing for sunlight by trying to outgrow each other.
- Predator-prey relationship is where the predator attacks and kills the prey, thus benefiting only the predator. It is not a symbiotic relationship and is short-term.

Additional Information:
- The consumers can be divided on the basis of their primary source of nutrition. Carnivores are meat eaters, herbivores are plant eaters, and omnivores consume both plants and animals.
- Autotrophs are also divided into photosynthesizers, organisms that use sunlight as a source of energy, and chemosynthesizers, which use simple chemicals as a source of energy.
- Apart from the producers and the consumers, the decomposers break down complex organic matter into simple inorganic matter through chemical reactions. They are found on dead and decaying plant and animal bodies, scavenging them, decomposing them, and releasing simple nutrients back into nature.

Note:
- Chemosynthesizers are generally found in organisms living in places where there is no sunlight, such as ocean vents.
- Examples of decomposers are vultures, fungi, bacteria, etc.