BIO120H1 Chapter 14: Bio Chapter 14.doc
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
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Document Summary
Consumer-resource interactions organize biological communities into food chains; consumers benefit individually and increase their numbers; resource populations decrease; populations are controlled from above and below their place on the food chain by consumers and resources, respectively. Mutualism: (+/+) interaction where both parties involved benefit (e. g. bees and flower pollination). Competition: (-/-) interaction where two species share a resource and reduce the availability of it for the other species. Commensalism: (+/0) interaction where one party benefits and the other is unaffected (e. g. bird builds its nest in a tree). Amensalism: (-/0) one party suffers and the other is unaffected (e. g. you unknowingly crush an insect underfoot). Symbiosis: species interaction referring to individuals who live in close association, mutualistic or parasitic. Resource populations adapt many evolutionary tactics, suited to their environment, to avoid being captured by consumers. As the fitness of both depends on the delicate relationships between consumer and resource, evolutionary responses constantly readjust the relationship.
