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Competitive, predatory, and mutualistic interactions
Review your understanding of competitive, predatory, and mutualistic interactions in this free article aligned to NGSS standards.
Key points:
- Across all ecosystems, organisms interact in specific ways.
- Competitive interactions happen when organisms compete for the same set of resources.
- Predatory interactions happen when one organism hunts and eats another organism. The organism doing the eating is a predator. The organism being eaten is the prey.
- Mutualistic interactions happen when two organisms of different species benefit from interacting with each other. In some cases, organisms in a mutualistic relationship even require each other for survival.
Want to join the conversation?
- Is there a scientific term for when two organisms of the same species benefit off each other or work together? If so, what is it called?(15 votes)
- How many years can the ants live.(8 votes)
- The lifespan of an ant varies significantly depending on the species. Different ant species have different life expectancies, and factors such as environmental conditions and the ant's role within the colony can also influence their lifespan.
In general, worker ants, which are the sterile female ants that gather food and perform other tasks within the colony, have relatively short lifespans compared to the queen ant. Worker ants usually live anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
On the other hand, the queen ant, who is responsible for laying eggs and maintaining the colony, can have a much longer lifespan. Some queen ants can live for several years, and in some species, they can live for several decades. The queen's primary role is to reproduce and ensure the survival and growth of the colony.(11 votes)
- i think it is cool how the ants protect the aphids and they are friends i did not know what and aphids is at all please help thank you(3 votes)
- Aphids are often considered pests, enough so that farmers sometimes go as far to release aphid-eating ladybugs on their fields to keep the aphid population under control. Hope this helps!(21 votes)
- Predatory interactions happen when one organism hunts and eats another organism. The organism doing the eating is a predator. The organism being eaten is the prey.(11 votes)
- What is the green thing in the image above?(5 votes)
- The green plant is a plant full of sweet honeydew. Aphids extract it, and the ants eat those aphids to keep that plant clean.(10 votes)
- What kind of ant is that?(4 votes)
- Underneath the image there is a caption; the caption reads, 'Carpenter ants and aphids can have a mutualistic relationship. The ants get food from a sugary liquid given off by the aphids. The aphids get protection from the ants.'(4 votes)
- i think its kidna cool how the ants have hair on them to catch pollen and spread it around.(6 votes)
- Many insects have "hair" on them, look at this image of a fruit fly (Drosophila):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drosophila_melanogaster_Proboscis.jpg
I am not sure it is accurate to say that they are for spreading pollen, this would not benefit the ant, so they likely would not have evolved it if that were its function.(2 votes)
- Why are the ants eating the plant?!(1 vote)
- how is everyone doing? how has your day been? :)(5 votes)
- Great! Thankyou!😀🐰🧋(3 votes)