Interspecific interaction

The Niche

 The niche is one of the most important concepts in ecology. Paradoxically, it is also
one of the hardest to define (Ecology is still a young science).

 In essence, an organism’s niche is how it makes a living: the environmental

conditions it tolerates, the important resources it needs to survive, and its ways of
obtaining those resources.

 In obtaining energy, nutrients, etc.. a populations of one species frequently interact

with populations of other species.

Types of Interspecific Interactions

Effect on Effect on

Species 1 Species 2

 Neutralism 0 0

 Competition - -

 Commensalism + 0

 Amensalism - 0

 Mutualism + +

 Predation, - +

 Parasitism, Herbivory

Neutralism

 Neutralism the most common type of interspecific interaction. Neither population

affects the other. Any interactions that do occur are indirect or incidental.
 Example: the tarantulas living in a desert and the cacti living in a desert
Competition

 Competition occurs when organisms in the same community seek the same limiting
resource. This resource may be prey, water, light, nutrients, nest sites, etc.

 Competition among members of the same species is intraspecific.

 Competition among individuals of different species is interspecific.

 Individuals experience both types of competition, but the relative importance of the
two types of competition varies from population to population and species to species

Types of Competition

 Exploitation competition occurs when individuals use the same limiting resource or
resources, thus depleting the amount available to others.
 Interference competition occurs when individuals interfere with the foraging, survival,
or reproduction of others, or directly prevent their physical establishment in a portion
of a habitat.

Example of Interference Competition

 The confused flour beetle, Triboleum confusum, and the red flour beetle, Triboleum
castaneum cannibalize the eggs of their own species as well as the other, thus
interfering with the survival of potential competitors.
 In mixed species cultures, one species always excludes the other. Which species
prevails depends upon environmental conditions, chance, and the relative numbers of
each species at the start of the experiment.

Outcomes of Competition

 Exploitation competition may cause the exclusion of one species. For this to occur,
one organism must require less of the limiting resource to survive. The dominant
species must also reduce the quantity of the resource below some critical level where
the other species is unable to replace its numbers by reproduction.
  Exploitation does not always cause the exclusion of one species. They may coexist,
with a decrease in their potential for growth. For this to occur, they must partition
the resource.
 Interference competition generally results in the exclusion of one of the two
competitors.
The Competitive Exclusion Principle

 Early in the twentieth century, two mathematical biologists, A.J. Lotka and V.
Volterra developed a model of population growth to predict the outcome of
competition.
 Their models suggest that two species cannot compete for the same limiting resource
for long. Even a minute reproductive advantage leads to the replacement of one
species by the other.
 This is called the competitive exclusion principal

Evidence for Competitive Exclusion

 A famous experiment by the Russian ecologist, G.F. Gausse demonstrated that

Paramecium aurellia outcompetes and displaces Paramecium caudatum in mixed
laboratory cultures, apparently confirming the principle.
 (Interestingly, this is not always the case. Later studies suggest that the particular
strains involved affect the outcome of this interaction).

Resource Partitioning

 Species that share the same habitat and have similar needs frequently use resources in
somewhat different ways - so that they do not come into direct competition for at least
part of the limiting resource. This is called resource partitioning.
 Resource partitioning obviates competitive exclusion, allowing the coexistence of
several species using the same limiting resource.
 Resource partitioning could be an evolutionary response to interspecific competition,
or it could simply be that competitive exclusion eliminates all situations where
resource partitioning does not occur.
Competition and the Niche

 An ecological niche can be thought of in terms of competition.

 The fundamental niche is the set of resources and habitats an organism could
theoretically use under ideal conditions.
 The realized niche is the set of resources and habitats an organism actually used: it is
generally much more restricted due to interspecific competition (or predation.)

Two organisms cannot occupy exactly the same niche

 This is sometimes called Gausse’s rule(although Gausse never put it exactly that
way).
 -Experiments by Gausse (Paramecium), Peter Frank (Daphnia), and Thomas Park
(Triboleum) have confirmed it for simple laboratory scenarios.
 -This creates a bit of a paradox, because so many species exist in nature using the
same resources.
 -The more complex environments found in nature may enable more resource
partitioning.

Amensalism

 Amensalism is when one species suffers and the other interacting species experiences
no effect.
 Example: Redwood trees falling into the ocean become floating battering-rams
during storms, killing large numbers of mussels and other inter-tidal organisms.
 Allelopathy involves the production and release of chemical substances by one
species that inhibit the growth of another. These secondary substances are chemicals
produced by plants that seen to have no direct use in metabolism.
 This same interaction can be seen as both amensalism, and extremely one-sided
interference competition-in fact it is both
Example: Allelopathy in the California Chaparral

 Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) trees excrete an antibiotic called juglone.

Juglone is known to inhibit the growth of trees, shrubs, grasses, and herbs
found growing near black walnut trees.
 Certain species of shrubs, notably Salvia leucophylla (mint) and Artemisia
californica (sagebrush) are known to produce allelopathic substances that
accumulate in the soil during the dry season. These substances inhibit the
germination and growth of grasses and herbs in an area up to 1 to 2 meters
from the secreting plants.

Commensalism

 Commensalism is an interspecific interaction where one species benefits and the other
is unaffected.
 Commensalisms are ubiquitous in nature: birds nesting in trees are commensal.
 Commensal organisms frequently live in the nests, or on the bodies, of the other
species.
 Examples of Commensalism:
 Ant colonies harbor rove beetles as commensals. These beetles mimic the ants
behavior, and pass as ants. They eat detritus and dead ants.
 Anemonefish live within the tentacles of anemones. They have specialized mucus
membranes that render them immune to the anemone’s stings. They gain protection
by living in this way.

Mutualism

 Mutualism in an interspecific interaction between two species that benefits both

members.
 Populations of each species grow, survive and/or reproduce at a higher rate in the
presence of the other species.
 Mutualisms are widespread in nature, and occur among many different types of
organisms
Examples of Mutualism

 Most rooting plants have mutualistic associations with fungal mychorrhizae.

Mychorrhizae increase the capability of plant roots to absorb nutrients. In return, the
host provides support and a supply of carbohydrates.
 Many corals have endosymbiotic organisms called zooxanthellae (usually a
dinoflagellate). These mutualists provide the corals with carbohydrates via
photosynthesis. In return, they receive a relatively protected habitat from the body of
the coral.

Mutualistic Symbiosis

 Mutualistic Symbiosis is a type of mutualism in which individuals interact

physically, or even live within the body of the other mutualist. Frequently, the
relationship is essential for the survival of at least one member.
 Example: Lichens are a fungal-algal symbiosis (that frequently includes a third
member, a cyanobacterium.) The mass of fungal hyphae provides a protected habitat
for the algae, and takes up water and nutrients for the algae. In return, the algae (and
cynaobacteria) provide carbohydrates as a source of energy for the fungus.

Facultative vs. Obligate Mutualisms

 Facultative Mutualisms are not essential for the survival of either species.
Individuals of each species engage in mutualism when the other species is present.
 Obligate mutualisms are essential for the survival of one or both species.

Other Examples of Mutualisms

 Flowering plants and pollinators. (both facultative and obligate)

 Parasitoid wasps and polydna viruses. (obligate)

 Ants and aphids. (facultative)

 Termites and endosymbiotic protozoa. (obligate)

 Humans and domestic animals. (mostly facultative, some obligate)

Predation, Parasitism, Herbivory

 Predators, parasites, parasitoids, and herbivores obtain food at the expense of their
hosts or prey
 Predators tend to be larger than their prey, and consume many prey during their
lifetimes
 Parasites and pathogens are smaller than their host. Parasites may have one or many
hosts during their lifetime. Pathogens are parasitic microbes-many generations may
live within the same host. Parasites consume their host either from the inside
(endoparasites) or from the outside (ectoparasites).

Predator-Prey and Parasite-Host Coevolution

 The relationships between predator and prey, and parasites and hosts, have coevolved
over long periods of time
 About 50 years ago, an evolutionary biologist named J.B.S. Haldane suggested that
the interaction between parasite and host (or predator and prey) should resemble an
evolutionary arms race:
 First a parasite (or predator) evolves a trait that allows it to attack its host (or prey).
 Next, natural selection favors host individuals that are able to defend themselves
against the new trait.
 As the frequency of resistant host individuals increases, there is natural selection for
parasites with novel traits to subvert the host defenses.
 This process continues as long as both species survive.
 Recent data on Plasmodium, the cause of malaria, support this model.

Example of Parasite-Host Coevolution

 The common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca has leaves that contain cardiac
glycosides: they are very poisonous to most herbivores. This renders them
virtually immune to herbivory by most species.
 Monarch butterfly larvae have evolved the ability to tolerate these toxins, and
sequester them within their bodies. They are important specialist hervivores
of milkweeds.
  These sequestered compounds serve the additional purpose of making
monarch larvae virtually inedible to vertebrate predators.

Predator-Prey Population Dynamics

 Predation may be a density-dependent mortality factor to the host population-and

prey may represent a limiting resource to predators.
 The degree of prey mortality is a function of the density of the predator population.
 The density of the prey population, in turn, affects the birth and death rates of the
predator population.
 i.e, when prey become particularly common, predators increase in numbers until prey
die back due to increased predation, this, in turn, inhibits the growth of prey.
 Typically, there is a time lag effect.
 There is often a dynamic balance between predators and prey that is necessary for
the stability of both populations.
 Feedback mechanisms may control the densities of both species.

Reference

 Prakash .M., Insect ecology – 2008, Discovery publishing House Pvt. Ltd- New Delhi
– PP-356.
 Carl B. Huffaker and Andrew P.Gutierroz , Ecological Entomolgy- 1998, John Wiley
& sons , INC- PP-756.
 Timothy D.Schowatler – An ecosystems approach insect ecology – 2006-pp-572.
 Martin R.Speight , Mark D.Hunter, Allan D.Walt- Ecology of Insects Concepts and
Application, wiley –Blackwell- 2008-pp-628.