81⟩ What is harmonious ecological interaction?
Harmonious, or positive, ecological interaction is that in which none of the participating beings is harmed.
Ecology
Home Education and Science Ecology
“Ecology Interview Questions and Answers will Guide us now that the Ecology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions with their environment. Learn more basic and advance concepts or get preparation of Ecology based jobs interview by our Ecology Interview Questions and Answers Guide.”
139 Ecology Questions And Answers
82⟩ What is protocooperation?
Protocooperation is the ecological interaction in which both participants benefit and that is not obligatory for their survival. Protocooperation is a harmonious (positive) interspecific ecological interaction. Examples of protocooperation are: the action of the spur-winged plover that using its beak eats residuals from crocodile teeth; the removal of ectoparasites from the back of bovines by some birds that eat the parasites; the hermit crab that live inside shells over which sea anemones live (these offer protection to the crab and gain mobility to obtain food).
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: protocooperation
83⟩ What are the main interspecific ecological interactions?
The main harmonious interspecific ecological interactions are protocooperation, mutualism and commensalism. The main inharmonious interspecific ecological interactions are interspecific competition, parasitism, predatism and ammensalism.
84⟩ Why is cannibalism an inharmonious intraspecific ecological interaction?
In cannibalism an individual eat other of the same species (occurs in some insects and arachnids). Since it is an interaction between beings of the same species and at least one of them is harmed (the other is benefited) the classification as inharmonious intraspecific ecological interaction is justified.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: cannibalism
85⟩ What are the main causes of the loss of the biological diversity nowadays?
The biggest dangers to the biological diversity today are fruits of the human action. The main of them is the destruction of habitats caused by the growth of the cities, deforestation, pollution, and fires. The second is the invasion of ecosystems by nonnative species introduced by humans; these species change the equilibrium of ecosystems causing harm. Other big dangers are the predatory hunting and fishing and the global warming.
86⟩ What is commensalism?
Commensalism is the ecological interaction in which one individual benefit while the other is not benefited neither harmed. Commensalism is a harmonious (positive) ecological interaction, since none of the participants is harmed. Example of commensalism are the numerous bacteria that live in the skin and in the digestive tube of humans without being pathogenic neither beneficial. They are innocuous bacteria living in commensalism with humans.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: commensalism
87⟩ How does the vegetal stratification of an ecosystem influence the biological diversity?
The vegetal stratification of an ecosystem, like the strata of the Amazon Rainforest, creates vertical layers with peculiar abiotic and biotic factors, dividing the ecosystem into several different environments. Therefore, in the superior layer near the crowns of big trees, the exposition to light, rain, and wind is greater but moisture is lower comparing to the inferior layers. As one goes down the strata, the penetration of light diminishes and moisture increases. Regarding the biotic factors, communities of each stratum present composition, features, food habits, and reproduction strategies, etc., also different. Such variations in the abiotic and biotic factors make the selective pressure upon the living beings also diversified, there are more ecological niches to be explored and more varied beings emerge during the evolutionary process.
88⟩ What is competition? Which type of ecological interaction is competition?
Competition is the ecological interaction in which the individuals explore the same ecological niche or their ecological niches partially coincide and therefore competition for the same environmental resources takes place.
Competition is harmful for all participating beings and thus it is classified as an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity:
intraspecific competition
89⟩ What are some economic applications that can be generated by very biodiverse ecosystems?
Very biodiverse areas present enormous economic potential. They can be source of raw material for the research and production of medicines, cosmetics, chemical products, and food. They are depository of genetic wealth that can be explored by biotechnology. They are source of species for agriculture. They can also be explored by the ecological tourism.
90⟩ What is ammensalim?
Ammensalism is the ecological interaction in which an individual harms other without obtaining benefit. Ammensalism is an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction since one participant is harmed.
(Sometimes it is wrongly said that ammensalism is a form of ecological interaction in which an organism releases in the environment substances that harm another species; this situation is indeed an example of ammensalims but the concept is not restricted to it.)
One of the best examples of ammensalism is the one established between humans and other species under extinction due to human actions like habitat devastation by fires, ecological accidents, leisure hunting, etc. Other example is the red tide, proliferation of algae that by intoxication can lead to death of fishes and other animals.
91⟩ What is ecological succession?
Ecological succession is the changing sequence of communities that live in a ecosystem during a given time period.
Image Diversity: ecological succession
92⟩ What is predatism?
Predatism is the ecological interaction in which one individual mutilates or kills other to get food. Predatism is an inharmonious (negative) ecological interaction since one participant is harmed.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: predatism
93⟩ Is herbivorism a form of predatism?
Herbivorism is the form of predatism in which first order consumers feed from producers (plants or algae). For example, birds and fruits, humans and eatable vegetable, etc. (There are proposals to consider the herbivorism of leaves a form of parasitism and the herbivorism of entire plants and seeds a form of predatism).
94⟩ What are pioneer species? What is the role of the pioneer species?
Pioneer species are those first species that colonize places where previously there were no living beings, like, for example, algae that colonize bare rocks. In general, pioneers species are autotrophs or maintain harmonious ecological interaction with autotrophic beings (like autotrophic bacteria, herbaceous plants, lichens).
The pioneer community is formed of species able to survive under hostile environments. The presence of these species modifies the microenvironment generating changes in abiotic and biotic factors of the ecosystem undergoing formation. Therefore, they open way to other species to establish in the place by the creation of new potential ecological niches.
95⟩ What is mutualism?
Mutualism is the ecological interaction in which both participants benefit and that is obligatory for their survival. Mutualism is a harmonious (positive) ecological interaction. Mutualism is also known as symbiosis. Examples of mutualism are: the association between microorganisms that digest cellulose and the ruminants or insects within which they live; the lichens, formed by algae or cyanobacteria that make organic material for the fungi and absorb water with their help; nitrifying bacteria of the genus Rhizobium that associated to leguminous offer nitrogen to these plants.
Symbiosis and Other Interactions - Image Diversity: mutualism
96⟩ What is the difference between primary ecological succession and secondary ecological succession?
Primary ecological succession is the changing sequence of communities from the first biological occupation of a place where previously there were no living beings. For example, the colonization and the following succession of communities are in a bare rock.
Secondary ecological succession is the changing sequence of communities from the substitution of a community by a new one in a given place. For example, the ecological succession from the invasion of plants and animals are in an abandoned crop or land.
97⟩ What is population density?
Population density is the relation between the number of individuals of a population and the area or volume they occupy. For example, in 2001 the human population density of the United States (according to the World Bank) was 29,71 inhabitants per square kilometer and China had a population density of 135,41 humans per square kilometer.
98⟩ What is a population?
In Biology population is a set of individuals of the same species living in a given place and in a given time.
Population Ecology - Image Diversity: world human population
99⟩ What is the climax stage of an ecological succession?
The climax stage is the stage of the ecological succession in which the community of an ecosystem becomes stable and does not undergo significant changes. In the climax community practically all ecological niches are explored and the biodiversity is the greater possible. In this stage the biomass, the photosynthesis rate and the cellular respiration reach their maximum levels and thus the net primary production (NPP = organic material made by the producers - organic material consumed in the cellular respiration of the producers) tends to zero. At the climax, the amount of oxygen released by photosynthesis is practically equal to the oxygen consumed by respiration. (This is one more reason why it is wrong to say that the Amazon Rainforest, an ecosystem at climax stage, is "the lung" of the earth. Other reasons are lungs are not producers of oxygen; the algae and cyanobacteria of the phytoplankton are the main producers of the molecular oxygen of the planet.)
100⟩ How do biodiversity, the total number of living beings, and the biomass respectively vary during the ecological succession?
Biodiversity, the number of living beings, and the biomass of an ecosystem tend to increase as the succession progresses and they stabilize when the climax stage is reached.
At the initial stage of the succession the use of carbon dioxide and the fixation of carbon into the biomass are high, since the total number of living beings in the ecosystem is increasing. At the climax stage, the use of carbon dioxide by photosynthesis equals the production by cellular respiration and the fixation of carbon into the biomass tends to zero.
