BIOL 121 Lecture Notes - Interspecific Competition, Competitive Exclusion Principle, Ecological Niche

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30 Dec 2012
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BIOL 121 Full Course Notes
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BIOL 121 Full Course Notes
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Define fitness and describe how biologists focus on it to study species interactions. Members of different spp (species) eat one another, pollinate each other, exchange nutrients, compete for resources, and provide habitats for each other. Therefore, fate of a population may be tightly linked to other species that share its habitat. To study species interactions, biologists focus on analyzing effects on the fitness of the individuals involved. Fitness is the ability to survive and produce offspring. +/0 commensalism birds feeding on insects that ants drive out. Species interactions may affect the distribution and abundance of a particular species. Changes in species interactions often explain short-term changes in population size/distribution. In biology, a coevolutionary (species influence each others" evolution) arms race occurs b/t predators and prey, parasites and hosts, etc. Outcome of interactions among species is dynamic and conditional. E. g. in commensal relationship b/t birds and ants, if bird attacks force some insects into path of ants, then becomes mutual.

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