Question

How do the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem interact?

Answer 1

Ecosystem:

1. The ecosystem is the interaction of abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) at a geographical location to form a functional biosphere.
2. The abiotic components of an ecosystem are air, water, soil, sunlight, temperature, etc.
3. The biotic components of an ecosystem include plants, animals, plants, etc.
4. One example of ecosystemic interactions is photosynthesis.
5. Where the biotic components (plants) of an ecosystem use the abiotic components( sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, etc.) to produce chemical energy to survive.

Different types of species interaction in an ecosystem are:

Predatory-prey interaction:

1. In this type of ecosystemic interaction one organism feeds over another organism, hence predating the prey.
2. Example of Predatory-prey interaction is the hunting down of deer by lions and cheetahs, etc.

Parasitism interaction:

1. In this type of ecosystem one organism uses another host organism for survival and feeds over its requirements.
2. Example of Parasitism interaction is parasitic fleas and ticks that live on dogs and cats, etc.

Herbivory interaction:

1. In this type of interaction one organism prepares the food via photosynthesis and the other organisms consume the prepared food.
2. Example of Herbivory interaction is the grass eaten by cows, etc.

Competitive interaction:

1. In this type of interaction both organisms compete for survival over the same resources, hence one of the organisms is negatively affected by other.
2. Example of Competitive interaction is the competition between plants of the same species for sunlight and space, etc.

Commensalism interaction:

1. It is the interaction where one organism is benefitted from the other, while the other organism is practically unaffected by the other.
2. Examples of Commensalism interaction are tree frogs using plants as protection and egrets birds eating insects from cattle's backs, etc.

Mutualism interaction:

1. This is an interaction where both organisms benefit from each other mutually.
2. Examples of Mutualism are the symbiotic relationship between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and root nodules of leguminous plants, mycorrhiza, etc.