Interactions Between Organisms 3/5/17

Summary: Organisms interact with each other in many different ways.  Commensalism is a win, okay relationship in which one organism is benefited and the other is not harmed or benefited. An orchid growing in a tree is a great example. The orchid receives the much needed sunlight while the tree does not care. Predation is a win or lose interaction. One organism consumes all or a part of another organism. An example of this relationship is a pack of lions hunting a group of gazelles. Symbiosis is a close and dependent relationship between two different species. The survival of one depends on the other.  Mutualism is a win, win situation where both species benefit. For instance, ants and acacia trees. The ants feed on the tree and the ants act as body guards for the tree. Another interaction between organisms is competition. This occurs when two organisms fight for basic necessities or resources.  This is a win or lose interaction that can happen between two animal from the same species or not. An example of this interaction would be a bee and a bird fighting for a flowers pollen.  The final symbiosis relationship is parasitism. In this interaction one animal is benefited while the other one is harmed. A tick and dog represent parasitism because the tick gets food, blood, from the dog, and the dog is harmed because it feels itchy. There are a lot ways organisms interact.

S&EP-Conducting Investigations: The food chain or food web shows how producers make their own food. Then primary consumers eat the producers. After that, predators consume the prey. You work your way up the food chain like that till you reach humans who sit at the top of the energy pyramid. A decomposer is an organism that gets its nutrients from living things that have died. Decomposers do not kill to get food. They break down the organic matter they leave behind and whatever they don't use is recycled because as I know matter is reused and not created. So what happens when there are decomposers in this food web?. Well to see what would happen we conducted an investigation using gizmos.   When looking at the gizmo you could tell that mushrooms were decomposers because they benefit from all other living organisms even if they don't directly consume them. Overall investigating the gizmo gave me a better understanding of interdependence of organisms.

XCC-Cause & Effect: Our endangered species project focuses on saving and protecting the green sea turtle. We are to provide solutions to their problem that is endangerment, but in order to do that we need to know why they are endangered. The main reason for green sea turtle endangerment is humans. People in West Africa use it for medicine, and others harm it for its meat and eggs. In addition, they are harmed from boat propellers, and fishnets.  As people trash beaches the population of green sea turtles decreases. This is due to the fact that they need to nest on the beach. The food source for the green sea turtle, sea grass, is a victim of coastal development. This means there is more pollution and sediment in the water and they have to compete for food. If you think about it humans are the real cause behind the green turtles endangerment.

Multiplier: This week I was a mutant, to be more specific a wanderer because I shared all the information I found on green sea turtles with my team.