Nature is beautiful and diverse. Living on the same planet, plants and animals had to learn to coexist with each other. The relationship between organisms is not an easy but interesting topic that will help you better understand the world around you.
Types of relationships
There are different types of relationships between living organisms. But scientists divide them into three large groups.
The first group combines all those types of relationships between organisms that can be called positive, the result of which helps two organisms to exist without contradictions.
The second group includes those types of relationships that are called negative. As a result of the interaction of two organisms, only one benefits, while the other is oppressed. Sometimes the latter may even die as a result of such relationships. This group also includes such an interaction of organisms that negatively affects both the first and second individuals.
The third group is considered the mostsmall. This group includes relationships between organisms that bring neither benefit nor harm to both parties.
Positive types of relationships between organisms
In order to exist in the world, you need to find allies and helpers. This is what many plants and animals do during their evolutionary development. The result is a relationship where both parties benefit from the relationship. Or those relationships that are beneficial only to one side, and they do not harm the other.
Positive relationships, also called symbiosis, are manifold. Currently, cooperation, mutualism and commensalism are distinguished.
Cooperation
Cooperation is such a relationship between living organisms when both parties benefit. Most often, this benefit lies in the extraction of food. But sometimes one of the parties receives from the other not only food, but also protection. Such relationships between organisms are very interesting. Examples can be seen in the animal kingdom in different parts of the planet.
One of them is the cooperation of hermit crab and sea anemone. Thanks to anemones, cancer finds a home and protection from other inhabitants of the water. Without a hermit crab, an anemone cannot move. But cancer allows you to expand the radius of the search for food. In addition, what the anemone does not eat will sink to the bottom and get cancer. This means that both sides benefit from this relationship.
Another example is the relationship between rhinoceroses and bullock birds. Such relationships between organisms allow one of the parties to find food. Cowbirds eat insects that live in abundance on the huge rhinoceros. Rhinos also benefit from neighbors. Thanks to these birds, he can lead a he althy life and not worry about insects.
Commensalism
Commensalism is those relationships between organisms in ecosystems, when one of the organisms benefits, and the second does not experience inconvenience from these relationships, but does not benefit either. This type of relationship is also referred to as freeloading.
Sharks are terrible marine predators. But for stick fish, they become a chance to survive and protect themselves from other aquatic predators, which are weak compared to sharks. Stick fish benefit from sharks. But they themselves do not bring them any benefit. At the same time, there is no harm. For a shark, such relationships go unnoticed.
In the burrows of rodents you can find not only cubs, but also a huge number of different insects. The hole created by the animal becomes their home. It is here that they find not only shelter, but also protection from those animals that love to feast on them. In a rodent hole, an insect is not afraid. In addition, here they can find enough food to lead a life without trouble. Rodents, on the other hand, have no difficulty with these types of relationships.
Negative relationships between organisms
Existing together on the planet, animals can not only help each other, but also cause harm. Not so easylearn these relationships between organisms. The table will help schoolchildren and students.
Types of relationships that are considered negative, in turn, are also divided into several types. Among them, there are those from which one side benefits, and the other harms, and there are those when both sides suffer. Negative examples are predation, parasitism and competition.
Predation
What is predation, anyone can tell without preparation. This is the relationship between organisms when one side benefits and the other suffers. In order to better understand who eats whom, you can draw up food chains. And then it is easy to know that many herbivores become the food of other animals. At the same time, predators can also be someone's food.
Despite the fact that hedgehogs are often depicted in pictures with apples and mushrooms, they are predators. Hedgehogs feed on small rodents. But they don't feel safe either. They can be eaten by foxes. In addition, foxes, like wolves, feed on hares.
Pasitism
Pasitism is the kind of relationship where one organism benefits from another. But at the same time, the parasite most often tries to make sure that the second organism does not die. Indeed, otherwise the parasite will have to look for a new habitat and a new source of food. Or die.
Parasites are found among animals andplants. For example, almost every inhabitant of the middle lane saw a tinder fungus. This is such a living organism that fits comfortably on a tree trunk and sometimes grows to incredible sizes. This mushroom is not so easy to remove from the trunk. It attaches very securely. Thanks to the tree, the fungus receives food, as well as a place to live.
There are a huge number of worms that live off a stronger organism with a complex organization. Perhaps the most famous parasitic worm is the human roundworm. White worms can be of different sizes. They live not only in the intestines. In especially neglected cases, they can find shelter in different parts of the body. Thanks to man, roundworms always have food. In addition, in the human body, the temperature and the conditions that are necessary for the worms to exist and multiply safely. The presence of a large number of roundworms in the human body causes inconvenience, as well as many problems that only a doctor can solve.
The bodies of other animals are also often inhabited by parasitic worms. Among them, for example, liver flukes can be noted. Such a relationship between organisms becomes a real disaster for people. And especially for those who are engaged in animal husbandry or gardening. The harm done to agriculture by parasites is immeasurable.
Competition
Despite bloodthirsty predators hunting weaker animals day and night, competition is considered the most brutal type of relationship betweenorganisms. After all, these include the struggle for a place under the sun among representatives of the same species. And each species has its own means of obtaining the required amount of food or better housing.
Stronger and more dexterous animals win in the fight. Strong wolves get good prey, while others are left to either eat other, less satisfying animals, or die of hunger. There is a similar struggle between plants to get as much moisture or sunlight as possible.
Neutral relationship
There are also such types of relationships between organisms when both parties do not receive any benefit or harm. Despite the fact that they live in the same territory, absolutely nothing unites them. If one of the parties of this relationship disappears from the face of the planet, then this will not directly affect the other side.
Thus, in warm countries, different herbivores feed on the leaves of the same tree. Giraffes eat those leaves that are on top. They are the most juicy and delicious. And other herbivores are forced to feed on the remains growing below. Giraffes do not interfere with them and do not take away food. After all, low animals will not be able to reach those leaves that are eaten by high ones. And when you are tall, there is no point in bending down and taking food from others.
There are different forms of relationships between organisms. And learning them all is not easy. But it is important to remember that everything in nature is interconnected. Most often, animals and plants affect each other positively or negatively, less often they do not affect each other at all. Buteven if they are not directly related, this does not mean that the disappearance of one cannot lead to the death of the other. The relationship between organisms is an important part of the environment.
