10. Crows help wolves hunt
In past Gray wolves were considered extremely dangerous and, for example, were almost completely destroyed in America in the 1970s. Since then the populations have recovered. Their reappearance in Yellowstone Park had a beneficial effect on the local ecosystem, especially in places occupied by forest orderlies.
Many herbivores die of starvation at the end of winter. At the same time, for the most part, their meat disappears, because predators simply do not have time to eat it before complete decomposition. With the advent of wolves, herbivores do not die in large numbers at once, but more evenly throughout the year. Moreover, unlike other animals, such as bears, wolves, after they are full, move away from their prey. And the crows enjoy the leftovers from the master’s table. They have learned to take full advantage of the benefits of their proximity to gray predators. With the onset of winter, they sit not far from the future victim and begin to croak loudly, calling wolves and showing them the location of the prey. Perhaps this is why predators are quite loyal to birds feeding near them.
9. Gravedigger beetles and their favorite mites
In nature, the carcass of an animal is a gift that rarely goes unclaimed. Gravediggers, as the name suggests, feed on carrion. Even their body has optimal shape for moving underground and inside a corpse. The smell of a recently dead and decaying animal soon attracts beetles, sometimes carrying mites on their backs.
The beetles lay their eggs in rotting meat, which will serve as food for their larvae. However, they are far from the only species larvae that do this, so it is natural that these larvae will compete with the offspring of other species. Unlike other types, for example various flies, gravediggers need to lay eggs in the corpses of animals, and not in any other place, because only by eating meat can the larvae survive. Adults eat the offspring of competing species, but because of their huge amount They simply cannot cope with everyone.
And then their passengers come to their aid. Upon arrival at a fresh corpse, the mites descend from the beetles and consume all eggs and larvae that do not belong to the gravediggers, thereby significantly reducing competition. And then the gravediggers move the ticks to the next corpse. It's possible that the mites also clean bacteria from the beetles' bodies, in exchange for a free ride, so to speak.
8. Daniel Greene and the Seizure Warning Snake
You've probably heard of dogs warning you of an upcoming seizure. What about the snake? Daniel Green Shelton from Washington is the owner of just such a specimen. He uses Bedrock, a 1.5-meter boa constrictor, for exactly this purpose. Green, who suffers from grand mal seizures, often wears Bedrock around his neck. He noticed that as the attack approached, the boa constrictor squeezed his throat a little.
Bedrock always warns of an attack quite accurately and in time, so Daniel has time to calm down, take medicine and take measures to prevent or survive the attack as safely as possible. But the problem is that at night, when Bedrock is sleeping, it is very easy to miss the approaching blow.
Greene's method of preventing seizures, unfortunately, often causes difficulties. For example, some store managers are not at all happy with a customer with a snake around his neck. As a service animal, Bedrock is legally free to accompany its owner in public places. Green says he doesn't mind leaving the store if asked politely. But he gets offended when managers try to argue that Bedrock is not a real service animal.
7. Badgers and coyotes team up
Badgers and coyotes share the same food preferences in the form of a variety of rodents. But they hunt differently. Proteins and prairie dogs have no chance of escaping from a coyote unless they hide in their holes. A badger, on the other hand, can dig and drag the rodent out of its home unless it digs another way out. A team of badger and coyote may be able to tip the scales in their favor and successfully capture the animal, if only the competing species can work together.
As it turns out, that's exactly what they do. The Indians have been talking about such cooperation for years, and in Lately scientists have attested to this. When coyotes and badgers work together to catch prey, they complement each other. The badger hunts underground while the coyote chases down its prey. Such friendships most likely take place between single individuals rather than packs.
6. Frogs protect spider eggs for shelter.
The huge Colombian tarantula can easily eat a small animal, such as a frog the size of a hummingbird. But he doesn't do this. It's unlikely that small frogs taste bad to a spider. But there are things more important than food. The spider and the frog were found in the hole made by the former. There is information that some Colombian spiders They even cohabit with one amphibian.
Often these frogs have to crawl under or slide over the tarantula to get into the hole without being attacked. Spiders take them, study them, and then release them. Most likely, they recognize frogs by some kind of chemical signature.
The two species entered into a mutually beneficial agreement. Many predators who are not averse to feasting on tiny amphibians do not dare to enter the habitat of a huge hunting tarantula. And frogs have the opportunity to feast on small invertebrates left over from the feast of the owner of the house. In addition, a favorable microenvironment has been created for the frog in the spider nest. How do these animals pay the rent? They eat ants, including those that could destroy the spider's eggs.
5. The all-seeing eye of bulls
The pistol shrimp is so named due to its ability to contract its claw with lightning speed, which creates high pressure water, which can repel a predator or stun prey. This arthropod always needs to be on guard, because it can only be safe in its own burrow. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the shrimp has very poor eyesight.
Some types of gobies come to their aid. They, with their much sharper vision, replace the eyes of the pistol shrimp. In many ways, they perform the same function for shrimp as a guide dog does for humans. Its caudal fin is in constant contact with the antennae of the crustacean. If a predator appears, the fish will warn its companion about the need to retreat. And the goby spends the night in a shrimp hole. This couple does not leave home without each other.
4. The CIA trains ravens in espionage
Operant learning theory B.F. Skinner's (classic example - a dog will receive food in exchange for some action) has proven to be very useful. On its basis many interesting objects, such as a seemingly harmless landmark in Hot Springs, Arkansas, that appeared in 1960.
The so-called IQ Zoo is a theme park where animals live, trained to perform actions characteristic of man. For example, chickens play baseball, pigs play the piano, and raccoons play basketball.
This fun IQ Zoo was also used as a platform to explore other possibilities of animal training, its application, for example, in espionage. The Ravens appeared to be the most promising in this regard. In addition to being able to deliver surprisingly heavy loads, they could perform very specific tasks, such as opening folders with documents.
It was quite easy to train ravens to fly to to the right place, marked with a laser, and carry various loads, including video surveillance devices. They even knew how to take pictures using a camera located in their beak. The birds went to the indicated window and pressed a button. Each press took a photo.
3. Rock perches and moray eels
Perhaps the collaboration between coyotes and badgers, which lead essentially similar lifestyles, is not so surprising. What about two significantly less sociable fish? Groupers and moray eels are like night and day. Sea bass hunt during the day in the open. Of course, the pursued prey can escape from the predator by hiding in a crevice. On the other hand, moray eels lead night image life, they sneak through narrow passages in coral reefs to grab your dinner.
In the Red Sea, some groupers have learned to ask moray eels for help. If the intended victim sea bass hides from him in a crevice, he will go straight to the moray eel’s lair. The grouper begins to quickly shake its head towards the entrance of the shelter, calling the moray eel, despite the daytime. Well, the one, led by the perch, heads to where the victim is hiding. She then slips inside and kills her prey. Sometimes she eats it herself, and in other cases she gives what she catches to the perch. This type of cooperation has never been seen before between the two various types fish Biologists have noted that the behavior of fish is variable, which does not suggest that only instinct takes place in their relationships.
2. Meat ants and caterpillars
Meat ants, also known as gravel ants, live exclusively in Australia. They furiously patrol the clearly defined boundaries of their territories, which practically do not overlap with the territories of other colonies. If this suddenly happened, then two colonies of meat ants meet, stand on their front paws and hit their opponents in the stomach with their hind paws. This ritual can last for several days, despite the fact that some of the insects die.
They are so irreconcilable not only towards other ant colonies, but also towards other invertebrates. If someone encroaches on inhabited territories, the ants gather together, kill and eat the uninvited guests. A large number of Even a very large animal can drive these workers away, despite the absence of stingers. They release foul-smelling substances and bite repeatedly. The areas around the colonies (which are approximately 650 meters) are often cleared of all extraneous species that cannot coexist with meat ants.
However, some types of caterpillars can not only coexist peacefully with ants, but also extremely welcome such a neighborhood. The caterpillars secrete a sweet liquid that the ants happily consume. And in exchange, they protect the caterpillars from predators.
By the way, farmers can also benefit from the proximity of meat ants. Dead home the cattle are placed on an anthill, and in the near future the bones are cleared of meat - convenient way recycling.
1. Orca Old Tom helps whalers
Twofold Bay, near Eden (in Australia), is the third deepest natural harbor in Southern Hemisphere and the famous whale gathering point is perfect place hunting these mammals. In the 1860s, the Davidson family operated a whaling station on these shores.
Every year, as winter approached, a small pod of killer whales appeared in the bay. Initially, the Davidsons were afraid that they would hunt whales themselves, but things turned out differently. The pod, led by a male later named Old Tom, trapped the whales in the bay. Then Old Tom swam to the whaling station, beat his tail and attracted the attention of the whalers.
People on their boats went to catch the giant. Some say killer whales have even protected people from sharks. When a whale was caught and killed, its carcass was left tethered in the water overnight. Old Tom and his crew ate the lips and tongue, leaving the more valuable meat for the Davidsons. This union came to be called the “Law of Language.”
Three generations of the Davidson family have worked with Tom and his pack. Old Tom died in 1930 and his skeleton is on display at the Eden Orca Museum. Soon after Old Tom's death, his pod disappeared, and the partnership between whalers and killer whales ended.
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Types of relationships between organisms
Animals and plants, fungi and bacteria do not exist in isolation from each other, but enter into complex relationships. There are several forms of interaction between populations.
Neutralism
Cohabitation of two species in the same territory, which has neither positive nor negative consequences for them.
Under neutralism, cohabiting populations different types do not influence each other. For example, we can say that a squirrel and a bear, a wolf and a cockchafer, do not directly interact, although live in the same forest.
Antibiosis
When both interacting populations or one of them experience a harmful, life-suppressing influence.
Antagonistic relationships can manifest themselves as follows:
1. Competition.
A form of antibiotic relationship in which organisms compete with each other for food resources, sexual partners, shelter, light, etc.
In competition for food, the species whose individuals reproduce faster wins. Under natural conditions, competition between closely related species weakens if one of them moves to a new food source (that is, they occupy another ecological niche). For example, in winter, insectivorous birds avoid competition by searching for food in different places: on tree trunks, in bushes, on stumps, on large or small branches.
Displacement of one population by another: In mixed crops of different types of clover, they coexist, but competition for light leads to a decrease in the density of each of them. Thus, competition that arises between closely related species can have two consequences: either the displacement of one species by another, or different ecological specialization of species, which makes it possible to coexist together.
Suppression of one population by another: Thus, fungi that produce antibiotics suppress the growth of microorganisms. Some plants that can grow on nitrogen-poor soils secrete substances that inhibit the activity of free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria, as well as the formation of nodules in legumes. In this way, they prevent the accumulation of nitrogen in the soil and the colonization of it by species that require large amounts of it.
3. Amensalism
A form of antibiotic relationship in which one organism interacts with another and suppresses its vital activity, while it itself does not experience any negative influences from the suppressed one (for example, spruce and plants lower tier). A special case is allelopathy - the influence of one organism on another, in which external environment waste products of one organism are released, poisoning it and making it unsuitable for the life of another (common in plants).
5. Predation
This is a form of relationship in which an organism of one species uses members of another species as a food source once (by killing them).
Cannibalism – special case predation - killing and eating their own kind (found in rats, brown bears, person).
Symbiosis
A form of relationship in which the participants benefit from cohabitation or at least do not harm each other. Symbiotic relationships also come in a variety of forms.
1. Protocooperation is a mutually beneficial, but optional coexistence of organisms, from which all participants benefit (for example, hermit crab and sea anemone).
2. Mutualism is a form of symbiotic relationship in which either one of the partners or both cannot exist without a cohabitant (for example, herbivorous ungulates and cellulose-degrading microorganisms).
Lichens are an inseparable cohabitation of fungus and algae, when the presence of a partner becomes a condition of life for each of them. The hyphae of the fungus, entwining the cells and filaments of the algae, receive substances synthesized by the algae. Algae extract water and minerals from the fungal hyphae.
Many grasses and trees develop normally only when soil fungi (mycorrhiza) settle on their roots: root hairs do not develop, and the mycelium of the fungus penetrates into the root. Plants receive water and mineral salts from the fungus, and it, in turn, organic matter.
3. Commensalism is a form of symbiotic relationship in which one of the partners benefits from cohabitation, and the other is indifferent to the presence of the first. There are two types of cohabitation:
Housing (some sea anemones and tropical fish). The fish sticks by clinging to large fish (sharks), uses them as a means of transportation and, in addition, feeds on their waste.
The use of structures and body cavities of other species as shelters is widespread. In tropical waters, some fish hide in the respiratory cavity (water lungs) of sea cucumbers (or sea cucumbers, an order of echinoderms). The fry of some fish find refuge under the umbrella of jellyfish and are protected by their stinging threads. To protect the developing offspring, fish use the durable shell of crabs or bivalves. The eggs laid on the crab's gills develop under ideal supply conditions. clean water passed through the gills of the host. Plants also use other species as habitats. These are the so-called epiphytes - plants that settle on trees. These can be algae, lichens, mosses, ferns, flowering plants. Woody plants serve as a place of attachment for them, but not as a source of nutrients.
Freeloading (large predators and scavengers). For example, hyenas follow lions, picking up the remains of their uneaten prey. There may be different spatial relationships between partners. If one partner is outside the cells of the other, they speak of ectosymbiosis, and if inside the cells, they speak of endosymbiosis.
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EXAMINATION CARD No. 4 |
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Types of nutrition of living organisms. |
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Theories of the origin of life. |
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There are two types of nutrition of living organisms: autotrophic and heterotrophic.
Autotrophs (autotrophic organisms) are organisms that use carbon dioxide as a carbon source (plants and some bacteria). In other words, these are organisms capable of creating organic substances from inorganic ones - carbon dioxide, water, mineral salts.
Heterotrophs (heterotrophic organisms) are organisms that use organic compounds (animals, fungi and most bacteria) as a carbon source. In other words, these are organisms that are not capable of creating organic substances from inorganic ones, but require ready-made organic substances.
Some living beings, depending on living conditions, are capable of both autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition. Organisms with a mixed type of nutrition are called mixotrophs. Mixotrophs are organisms that can both synthesize organic substances from inorganic ones and feed on ready-made organic compounds (insectivorous plants, representatives of the euglena algae department, etc.)
Living organisms are connected to each other in a certain way. The following types of connections between species are distinguished:
- trophic,
- topical,
- phoric,
- factory
The most important are trophic and topical connections, since they are the ones that hold organisms of different species near each other, uniting them into communities.
Trophic connections arise between species when one species feeds on another: living individuals, dead remains, waste products. Trophic connections can be direct or indirect. Direct communication manifests itself when lions feed on live antelopes, hyenas on the corpses of zebras, dung beetles on the droppings of large ungulates, etc. Indirect connection occurs when different species compete for one food resource.
Topical connections manifest themselves in one species changing the living conditions of another species. For example, under coniferous forest As a rule, there is no grass cover.
Phoric connections occur when one species participates in the spread of another species. The transfer of seeds, spores, and pollen by animals is called zoochory, and small individuals - phoresia.
Factory connections consist in the fact that one species uses excretory products, dead remains, or even living individuals of another species for its structures. For example, when building nests, birds use tree branches, grass, down and feathers of other birds.
Types of relationships between organisms
The impact of one species on another can be positive, negative and neutral. In this case, different combinations of impact types are possible. There are:
Neutralism- cohabitation of two species on the same territory, which has neither positive nor negative consequences for them. For example, squirrels and moose do not have significant effects on each other.
Protocooperation- mutually beneficial, but not obligatory coexistence of organisms, from which all participants benefit. For example, hermit crabs and sea anemones. Crayfish can settle on the shell coral polyp sea anemone, which has stinging cells that secrete poison. Sea anemone protects against cancer predatory fish, and the hermit crab, moving, contributes to the spread of sea anemones and an increase in their feeding space.
Mutualism (obligate symbiosis) — mutually beneficial cohabitation, when either one of the partners or both cannot exist without a cohabitant. For example, herbivorous ungulates and cellulose-degrading bacteria. Cellulose-degrading bacteria live in the stomach and intestines of herbivorous ungulates. They produce enzymes that break down cellulose, so they are essential for herbivores who do not have such enzymes. Herbivorous ungulates, for their part, provide bacteria with nutrients and habitat with optimal temperature, humidity, etc.
Commensalism- a relationship in which one of the partners benefits from cohabitation, and the other is indifferent to the presence of the first. There are two forms of commensalism: sinoikia (lodging) And trophobiosis (freeloading). An example of synoikia is the relationship between some sea anemones and tropical fish. Tropical fish take refuge from predators among the tentacles of sea anemones, which have stinging cells. An example of trophobiosis is the relationship between large predators and scavengers. Scavengers, such as hyenas, vultures, jackals, feed on the remains of victims killed and partially eaten large predators- lions.
Predation- a relationship in which one of the participants (predator) kills the other (prey) and uses him as food. For example, wolves and hares. The state of the predator population is closely related to the state of the prey population. However, when the population size of one prey species decreases, the predator switches to another species. For example, wolves can use hares, mice, wild boars, roe deer, frogs, insects, etc. as food.
A special case of predation is cannibalism- killing and eating one's own kind. It is found, for example, in rats, brown bears, and humans.
Competition- relationships in which organisms compete with each other for the same environmental resources when the latter are in short supply. Organisms may compete for food resources, sexual partners, shelter, light, etc. There are direct and indirect, intraspecific and interspecific competition. Indirect (passive) competition- consumption of environmental resources necessary for both types. Direct (active) competition- suppression of one type by another. Intraspecific competition- competition between individuals of the same species. Interspecific competition occurs between individuals of different but ecologically similar species. Its result can be either mutual adjustment two types, or substitution a population of one species of a population of another species that moves to another place, switches to another food, or goes extinct.
Competition leads to natural selection in the direction of increasing ecological differences between competing species and the formation of different ecological niches by them.
Amensalism- a relationship in which one organism influences another and suppresses its vital activity, but itself does not experience any negative influences on the part of the suppressed. For example, spruce and lower tier plants. The dense crown of spruce prevents penetration sun rays under the forest canopy and suppresses the development of lower tier plants.
A special case of amensalism is allelopathy (antibiosis)- the influence of one organism on another, in which waste products of one organism are released into the external environment, poisoning it and making it unsuitable for the life of another. Allelopathy is common in plants, fungi, and bacteria. For example, the penicillium fungus produces substances that suppress the activity of bacteria. Penicillium is used to produce penicillin, the first antibiotic discovered in medicine. Recently, the concept of “allelopathy” has also included a positive effect.
In the course of evolution and development of ecosystems, there is a tendency to reduce the role of negative interactions at the expense of positive ones, increasing the survival of both species. Therefore, in mature ecosystems the proportion of strong negative interactions is less than in young ones.
Characteristics of the types of interaction between populations of different species are also given in the table:
Notes:
- (0)—there is no significant interaction between populations.
- (+) - a beneficial effect on growth, survival or other characteristics of the population.
- (-) - inhibitory effect on growth or other characteristics of the population.
- Types 2-4 can be considered "negative interactions", 7-9 can be considered "positive interactions", and types 5 and 6 can be classified as both groups.
IN natural communities Animals of the same and different species live together and interact with each other. In the process of evolution, certain relationships are developed between animals that reflect the connections between them. Each animal species performs a specific role in the community in relation to other living organisms.
The most obvious form of relationship between animals is predation. In natural communities, there are herbivores that eat vegetation, and there are carnivores that catch and eat other animals. In relationships, herbivores act victimsami, and carnivores - predatorami. Moreover, each victim has its own predators, and each predator has its own “set” of victims. For example, lions hunt zebras and antelopes, but not elephants or mice. Insectivorous birds only catch certain types of insects.
Predators and prey have evolved to adapt to each other so that some have developed body structures that allow them to catch better, while others have a structure that allows them to better run away or hide. As a result, predators catch and eat only the weakest, sickest and least adapted animals.
Predators don't always eat herbivores. There are second- and third-order predators that eat other predators. This often occurs among aquatic life. So some species of fish feed on plankton, others feed on these fish, and a number aquatic mammals and the birds are eaten second.
Competition- a common form of relationships in natural communities. Typically, competition is most intense between animals of the same species living in the same territory. They have the same food, the same habitats. Competition between animals of different species is not so intense, since their lifestyles and needs are somewhat different. So a hare and a mouse are herbivores, but they eat different parts of plants and lead different lifestyles.
Types of interaction between organisms
The life of any living creature is impossible without others. Its well-being depends on many species that affect it in one way or another.
The entire world of animals, fungi and a significant part of bacteria lives due to those compounds that are created by plants. But plants could not exist without microorganisms, releasing mineral salts from dead litter (Fig. 1), animals - pollinators and seed distributors, fungi that help feed the roots, or other plants that create the necessary microclimate.
Rice. 1. Soil microorganisms that release mineral compounds from plant residues.
Left – bacteria, right – yeast
Communication between different organisms called biotic . All Live nature imbued with these connections. They are unusually varied in detail, can be direct or indirect and have different meaning in the life of species.
Direct connections are carried out with the direct influence of one species on another (for example, a predator on prey). Indirect – through influence on the external environment or on other species.
Distinguish different types relationships between organisms. Direct food , or trophic , communications - basic in nature. They support the life of organisms. Each species, by reproducing, not only ensures its own existence, but also serves as a source of energy for others. Some species consume live food, others consume the remains of plants or dead animals, or droppings, or solutions organic matter.
In nature there are specialized kinds, feeding on only one or a few other species, and are polyphagous, with wide food connections. This also includes humans. Humans can eat hundreds of species of plants, animals, and fungi. This means that human energy needs are provided by very broad trophic connections with living nature.
Another type of relationship - competition arises on the basis of indirect rather than direct interactions. Competition is associated with the fact that representatives of co-living species jointly use the same resources, which are usually limited. Resources can be either food (for example, the same types of prey for predators or plants for herbivores), or of another kind, for example, the presence of places for breeding offspring, shelters for protection from enemies, etc. In these cases, even if competing species coexist peacefully, the presence of another species is disadvantageous for each of them, since part of the necessary resources is used by the other.
Both closely related species and representatives of very distant groups can compete in nature. For example, gophers in the dry steppe eat up to 40% of plant growth. This means that pastures can support fewer sheep or saigas. And during the years of mass reproduction of locusts, there is not enough food for either gophers or sheep.
The third type of interaction between organisms is directly opposite to competition. It's mutually beneficial mutually beneficial relationship . In ecology, such relationships are called mutualistic or mutualism. For a number of species, this relationship is so important that they cannot even survive without the other. Arises symbiosis - close mutually beneficial cohabitation of different species.
Rice. 2. Cladonia lichen is an example of symbiosis.
In the picture: algae cells - Green colour; colorless – mushroom hyphae
Many flowering plants, for example, cannot grow without association with fungi or nodule bacteria. Symbiosis with fungi or bacteria improves root nutrition of plants, which, for their part, provide them with soluble sugars and other products photosynthesis. Lichens, as is known, are mutual cohabitation of fungi and algae (Fig. 2). Many animals would not be able to digest food without single-celled symbionts of the digestive tract - bacteria and protozoa.
Useful connections bring together the most different groups organisms: plants, animals, fungi and bacteria - and are widely distributed in nature (Fig. 3). Juicy fruits angiosperms- this is their adaptation to attract animals that distribute seeds protected from digestion by dense shells.
Food relationships, competition and mutualism are bilateral types of connections. In addition to them, there are relationships that have consequences just for one of interacting species.
There are relationships that are useful to one of the partners and indifferent to the other. For example, some animals either feed on the leftover food of representatives of another species, or use their shelters, burrows, nests, without bringing either harm or benefit to the owner. Thus, in the burrows of steppe and desert rodents, hundreds of species of insects, spiders, centipedes and other small animals escape the heat. Such relationships are called commensalism.
The opposite type of relationship also arises, when the presence of one species does not allow the survival of another. For example, under a shady spruce the seedlings of all light-loving herbs die, and penicillium mold fungi secrete antibiotics that are destructive to a number of bacteria.
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